


Felinette. Nothing Bad Ever Happens to Me

by bumblebeug (Madsmadsmads)



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Action/Adventure, Adrien salt, Alya Salt, Canon Divergence, Eventual Horror, Eventual Romance, Eventual math, F/M, Gen, Horror, Lila salt, Miraculous AU, Miraculous salt, Misunderstandings, Rare Pairings, Rating is subject to change, Slow Build, characters slightly aged up to about 16, tikki salt
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-10-25
Updated: 2020-03-31
Packaged: 2021-01-03 05:23:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 13
Words: 25,723
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21174137
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Madsmadsmads/pseuds/bumblebeug
Summary: During a seeming break from Hawkmoth and after being moved to the back, Marinette becomes seat-mates with recent transfer from England Felix Culpa.





	1. Nothing Bad Ever Happens to Me Part 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hey Everyone, to make things eventually easier - after publishing new chapters on Tumblr, I will also be publishing each chapter on AO3 so no one has to slog through a million posts.

“Class attention!” announced Miss Bustier to the chattering class, “Please quiet down!” and waited until the class simmered down, “I want to introduce a new transfer student to the class, Felix Culpa.” She smiled brightly, “Please do your best to make him feel welcome.”

“Welcome, Felix!” The class replied back in unison. 

In response, Felix inclined his head silently and scanned the sea of faces and barely managed to hold back a grimace to the fact that Adrien Agreste was a part of this class. The whole class was now quiet and expectant looking. They wanted something from Felix, ‘But what?’ he wondered. Then it clicked in his head. ‘They probably want me to take my seat so lessons can begin,’ he thought as he turned his head to Miss Bustier. She had the same expectant look as the class even as she smiled encouragingly. Felix felt a twinge of annoyance- his seat assignment wasn’t given to him beforehand, so how could he take a seat? 

“Where-”

“New-” 

Both student and teacher started and stopped simultaneously. Felix, annoyed, stared at Bustier who cleared her throat before continuing, “I just wanted to say that we usually let the new student say a little something about themselves to the class” she waved a hand toward the class in emphasis and smiled again, “before sitting down.” 

Felix’s eyes swept the class again lingering a moment on Agreste before meeting Miss Bustier’s, “No. Thank you, I just want to know which seat is mine.” 

Clearly, Miss Bustier didn’t expect a refusal. She nearly dropped her clipboard as she fumbled to look at the seating chart mumbling to herself, “No… no… hmm, we just rearranged seats…ah!” She brightened, “You can sit in the back next to Marinette, our class representative! She would love to help you get acclimated to your new school.” She finished proudly. 

Felix followed Miss Bustier’s line of sight and let out a small sigh at the sight of bright pink, floral clothing. Another school and it looked like he was unlucky enough to be seated next to what was probably an overly enthusiastic girl who would hound him with “friendly exuberance” and give him headache after headache until he snapped- she cried - and the whole class would hate him. Again. He swallowed a second sigh that was climbing up his throat as he grimly walked towards the empty seat. He ignored Adrien waving and the whispers that the people around him were starting. 

——————-

“Wow, rude.” Alya whispered to Nino who nudged Adrien, “Hey bro?”

“Yeah man?

“Why were you waving? Know him or something?”

“Yeah,” Adrien replied, “We model together sometimes–”

“Oh wow! Another model in our class? How exciting! Are you guys best friends?” Lila interjected with a sparkle in her eye. Adrien smiled softly at the warmth in her tone. He knew that she wasn’t all bad. “Usually he’s the top model for all the English shoots.” Adrien lost his smile slightly and hedged, “But, uh, we aren’t really close… he’s not exactly the nicest guy around…”

“Ha! Then it’s fitting that he’s going to sit next to another bully - maybe Marinette will learn a lesson in kindness after having to endure a bully without my help this time.” Alya crossed her arms before sending a supportive look to Lila, “I’m sure in no time, Marinette will come crying and apologize to you.”

“Alya!” Nino raised his eyebrows slightly, “Don’t be so rude, Marinette is still our friend.” 

Alya narrowed her eyes, “Yeah? Well, with how she’s been acting to Lila - I’d say she’s on thin ice.” 

Adrien winced as he watched the couple in front of him glare at each other before Nino huffed and faced forward. He hoped that Marinette would come to her sense soon- didn’t she realize that her best friend and Nino’s relationship was suffering because of her and not Lila? Still, he didn’t think that she deserved to be subjected to Felix’s bad attitude. ‘Stay strong Marinette,’ Adrien thought as he pulled out his notebook, ‘Please come back and make everything right again.’

————

Felix took his seat and squeezed his eyes together, trying to stave off a headache before it even began. He was preparing to be bombarded by some chipper, inane, speech about “hoping to become best friends” or some other such nonsense. When nothing immediately came, he opened his eyes and saw the class representative staring at him oddly. She almost looked concerned before giving herself a shake. 

“Felix Culpa?”

He nodded warily. 

“Like Bustier said, I’m Marinette - class representative.” She doesn’t smile but instead holds her hand out. Surprised at her lack of bubbliness, Felix grasps it and she continues, “If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to come to me directly. I will try my best to address it.” The hand he was shaking was replaced with a sheet of paper. 

“This is a map of the school - our class is marked with a red sticker. I can show you around if you want, but otherwise, if you pair this with your class schedule, I’m sure you’ll be able to find your way around in no time.” 

Dumbfounded, he finds himself nodding at the map until he looks up and realizes that she has already turned her attention to the front of the classroom- pen at the ready on her notebook. 

That… wasn’t what he expected her to be like at all.


	2. Nothing Bad Ever Happens to Me Part

Marinette slumped into her desk chair, grateful that the day had flown by uneventfully besides the new student’s arrival and with no major incidents. Finally, a good day amidst the bad ones. Absently, she toyed with a nearby scrap of cloth. Perhaps being in the back had its perks after all.

Her nail caught on a loose thread.

Certainly, being so far away from her friends also meant that she was far, far, away from Chloe – who was too lazy to pick fights across the classroom with her. A definite bonus.

Slowly, she pulled the errant thread free and flicked it away.

Being in the back meant that she got the best view of all her classmates' antics without being under any scrutiny herself. And! And, sitting near the window meant that she had a bird’s eye view of the courtyard. It was so much better to be there to monitor any akuma activity that might occur at school.

She stroked the newly created fringe.

She was less distracted.

She pinched at the fringe and dragged it between her fingers with her other hand.

No Nino meant that she wasn’t constantly getting invited to group activities. Activities that would upset the balance between superhero work and study time. She could always use more study time. No Adrien meant that she wasn’t distracted by, well, _everything about him. _Now she was finally able to get through a lesson without getting too frazzled to think straight. And no Alya meant that there was no ladybug talk. It was always so hard not to react to hearing things about herself. Best of all, she was wasn’t subjected to listening to Alya defend all of Lila’s actions or accuse her efforts of saving _herfriendsfromalyingmanipulatorasjealousy_! 

The cloth in her hand ripped into two uneven pieces. She held back a sob.

Honestly, being away from everyone was an improvement. It wasn’t like they wanted her around, so the distance was welcome. Really.

Each fist tightly gripped a piece.

“Marinette!”

She heard Tikki’s voice a half-second before she appeared, nibbling on a cookie just out of reach of the keyboard, ever mindful of keeping the crumbs out of hard to reach areas. “Oh, hey Tikki,” Marinette said absently, consciously unclenching her hands, “I see you’ve already found yourself a snack.” She smoothed the frayed pieces on her lap and looked at them critically (glad for the distraction from her thoughts)- they were too small to be used in any designs. However, she contemplated, they were such a lovely turquoise colour; one of the scraps was just large enough to keep as a colour swatch, she’d just have to sew a little border to prevent further fray…

“–even listening?” Tikki’s voice broke through her thoughts.

Marinette ducked her head in shame, “..No, sorry. I just have a lot on my mind. You have my full attention now.” She placed the scraps aside and swiveled her chair to better face the kwami. Tikki shook her head in such a way that Marinette couldn’t tell whether it was in fond exasperation or true annoyance at her absentmindedness. She found that she didn’t care to know.

“Wait!” Marinette held up a hand just as Tikki was about to speak, “Do you think that the whole class is better off now that I’m in the back?”

From past experience, Marinette knew that it was better to get what was bothering her out in the open, rather than leave it to fester. Despite asking and knowing it was better to know, her fingers itched to grab another piece of cloth - anything to distract her from the answer. She forced her hands to remain still in her lap. She meant it when she said that Tikki would have her undivided attention even if she didn’t want to particularly hear the answer.

Tikki cocked her head to side, considering, “Well…” she drew out, “I don’t really get to see what’s happening in the class while in your purse, but” she tapped her paw to the side of her head, “there have been fewer akumatizations since the move. So…maybe?” she finished with a small shrug.

Marinette hugged her knees to her chest, “Yeah…that’s what I was thinking too.” she dolefully replied. She tugged at her pigtails before crossing the room to gaze at her class photo.

“Oh, Marinette,” Tikki flew up to nuzzle her chosen, “You should be happy that there are fewer battles.” she finished softly.

Lightly tracing her happy smile on the wall, she bit her lip, “I know. And I am. Happy about dealing with fewer akumas, I mean.” She elaborated, “But it’s hard knowing that it happened because I got moved away from everyone.”

A tap on her cheek drew her gaze to Tikki’s eyes. “Marinette, you know that being a hero means sacrifice. Sometimes it means sacrificing what makes you happy in the short term.”

Marinette drew a breath in, she knew that being a hero meant sacrifice, but up until now she had thought that sacrifice meant her _time_, not her friendships. Slowly she released her breath, trying to expel some of the sadness she felt with it. It didn’t work as well as she hoped it would as she dully repeated, “Short term. Until I defeat Hawk Moth, you mean?”

“Not necessarily,” Tikki’s antennas twitched beneath her fingers, “There are levels of sacrifice. Besides, you don’t have to sit next to someone to remain friends with them - look at Mylene and Ivan - they’re a couple even though they sit in different rows from each other.”

A smile wormed its way onto Marinette’s face as Tikki spoke, “Just because you are distant physically doesn’t mean that you have to be distant emotionally as well.”

“True.”

“And I think that you are forgetting something important.” Tikki sing-songed.

Marinette jauntily placed her hand on her hip, “Oh yeah? What?”

“You aren’t alone anymore! A new student means a new friend!” Tikki threw her arms wide open in exuberance, “A new exciting bond to create!”

Marinette’s smile faltered slightly, “I… don’t know Tikki. Is it smart to try and make a new friend? I don’t know how well I’d handle myself if I gained a friend only to lose them immediately after.”

“That’s a silly worry,” Tikki reassured, “Like they say, ‘Nothing ventured, nothing gained’. Promise me you’ll try?”

Marinette rubbed her arm as she stared past Tikki to her pictures. Was it worth the heartbreak? Or the awkwardness if she got rebuffed? Plus, she didn’t speak aloud, does he even want friends? He seemed pretty relieved when she kept it short, professional, and impersonal today. She nodded to herself. Maybe it was for the best.

Upon seeing the nod, a satisfied Tikki gave her one last pat on the cheek before drifting away.

“More like,’ Marinette thought, “Nothing ventured. nothing lost.” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello everyone, I hope you liked the chapter. Please don't hesitate to comment if you want to, hearing from people makes my day :)


	3. Nothing Bad Ever Happens to Me Part 3: Why Should I care?

Felix arrives early with both map and schedule in hand, determined to learn his route perfectly – sleep be damned. The empty hallways echo with his self-assured steps. Yesterday, he had found out that while he and the student representative shared the same class, he had not been seated next to the student representative in most of his subjects. He was unsure why his homeroom went out of its way to place them together.

‘Probably so she can shepherd me from class to class.’ Felix thought with annoyance, glancing occasionally from door number to paper route. By tomorrow, he was confident that he wouldn’t need to look at the map at all for the first portion of the day. But, he walked back some of his aggravation over the seating placement, he had to admit – it wasn’t like she had babied him in any way on his first day. After each bell, she barely glanced back at him as she walked to the next period. That had suited him fine, after all, he was perfectly capable of reading and the school was fairly straightforward. It lacked the labyrinthine twists whoever the architect of his old school seemed so fond of. Yes, he was perfectly capable of doing this on his own. All he had to ask for were the notes for each subject – it would seem that this school’s curriculum was ahead of what he had been learning in his previous. He wanted to correct this gap in knowledge as soon as possible and Marinette had readily agreed to make him copies starting from where his familiarity ended till now. Judging by her attitude, Marinette seemed to be an organized individual, so he expected that she would have everything ready for him today. He checked his watch and decided that he should head back to homeroom. A whole bookshelf sat behind him there and he wanted to peruse the titles in peace before class started.

~~

Typical, he scoffed to himself, good reading was scant. Hopefully, the library would hold more interest for him. Students began to filter in from the courtyard with the sound of the first bell and he idly watched them fill their seats. Even though the back row wouldn’t have been his first choice, he enjoyed the fact that he could observe without being easily observed himself. Also, he was pleased that the slight elevation would likely discourage visitors. Confident in his anonymity, he languorously gazed at each incoming student. Back in England, everyone had been required to wear a uniform; here, it was an explosion of colour and styles that Felix rarely saw outside of the runway.

There was a short pink girl talking animatedly, gesturing with both hands despite one being occupied with a tall goth girl’s hand who was listening with a soft expression.

There was a boy clutching a sketchbook to his chest, with a look of excitement.

There was another one bobbing his head to whatever music was flowing through his over-large headphones.

And there were the bright green eyes of Agreste looking straight into his – Felix stiffened and promptly shifted his gaze to the thermos in his lap. Maybe if he pretended like he hadn’t noticed…?

“Good morning Felix!”

Shit.

“Agreste.” He replied tersely. Of all the ways to start his second day, he let out a sigh.

“I hope you like school so far. What brings you to Paris anyways?” Adrien bounced on the balls of his feet.

How could he have so much energy so early? Felix wondered as he flipped the top of his thermos open. Tendrils of coffee leaned out and caressed his nose as he waited for it to cool.

“Not here to steal my job as Paris’ top model, I hope?” Adrien said in a strained joking tone.

Ah. There it was, Felix thought as he blew lightly, the sunshine boy was worried about his position. Felt threatened by Felix’s arrival. He was tempted to role his eyes, like actual talent would replace nepotism. Of course Agreste’s position was safe – but that didn’t mean that Felix was above making him sweat a little.

“Hmm.” Felix stalled as he took a sip of coffee and assumed a smug expression, “You never know. My reasons for coming here are my own.” And didn’t elaborate further.

“…Right” Adrien said leadingly and momentarily stopped fidgeting. A chime sounded from Adrien’s back pocket. Whatever he read caused him to perk up further. “Oh, well,” he stowed his phone away, “Maybe you’ll catch my father’s eye during Fall Fashion Week and I can put a good word in for you” He said with a breathy laugh and continued blithely, “You always did wear fall colours better than me.”

Felix’s knuckles turned white against his thermos. How dare he mock him like this? As he opened his mouth to say something cutting about he was interrupted by the bell.

“Agreste. Take your seat – you are holding up the class.” He said as harshly as he could instead. Go away.

“Nah,” Adrien waved his hand, “Teacher’s policy. We start class a couple of minutes after the bell to let late students have a chance to get here.”

“Why should I care – ” Felix’s words died in his throat at the sight of the frazzled looking class representative running pell-mell up the stairs to their shared desk.

“Marinette!”

Said girl jumped about a meter in the air from surprise, “Adrien!”

No longer the subject of Agreste’s attention, Felix took another sip of coffee and, with a raised eyebrow, observed Marinette stutter.

Apparently Adrien could translate what she said into a comprehensible sentence faster than he could.

“Oh same old, same old. Lila is out sick today. I wanted to know if you wanted to sit at your old seat today!”

Marinette flushed a bright red and glanced at Felix much to his confusion. Why was she staring? He took a sip of coffee as he pondered. Maybe she was weighing her duty to the new student against her desire to sit with her friends. Possible. He didn’t really care either way.

Wait.

Does she resent him for taking her away from her friends by making her sit in the back? He had no clue what the seating arrangement was before he came along so he supposed it was possible. Could this be why she acted the way she did yesterday? Or was that just how she was usually? Thoughtfully, he dabbed the corners of his mouth with a napkin. If she left, it would be a good opportunity to observe her without being an influence on her behaviour. Decision made, he flicked his wrist to indicate she could go if she desired. Adrien noticing the dismissal, wasted no time in grabbing her wrist and dragging her down to the second row before she could voice her own decision.

‘Interesting,’ Felix thought, ‘I wonder how – wait.’ He paused with his coffee halfway to his mouth. ‘My notes!’

He groaned. Today was already shaping up to be a dud.

——-

Adrien wasn’t surprised to see that Felix was already seated, waiting for class, when he walked through the door. In all his time knowing him, he was always punctual. He was surprised, however, that when he met Felix’s gaze, Felix looked at the empty space beside him intensely. This was the first time Felix had ever given him so clear an invitation to talk. Maybe he finally wants to be friends! Adrien thought as he practically leapt from the front of the classroom to the back.

“Good morning Felix!” He exclaimed brightly, missing the quiet sigh from the other boy. “I hope you like school so far. What brings you to Paris anyways?” Adrien bounced on the balls of his feet. He knew that logically, it wasn’t so they could become better friends, it had to have something to do with modeling. A wonderful thought struck him. Maybe Felix was told to come here to become the new top model? If Felix was here to take over his duties, then maybe Father would grant him more free time. But how to probe without arousing suspicion?

“Not here to steal my job as Paris’ top model, I hope.” Adrien joked hopefully and watched Felix closely. Please give me a hint.

He saw Felix’s smug smile as he answered, “Hmm… you never know. My reasons for being here are my own.”

Adrien could sing for joy, Felix was being coy! “…Right” and pulled out his phone from his back pocket when it chimed.

Won’t be in class today- feeling really sick. Please tell Miss Bustier for me. –Love, Lila

This morning was really shaping up to be one of the best mornings in recent memory for Adrien – if Lila was sick, that meant that Marinette could sit with everyone. Just like old times. He decided to wait for Marinette here. Distractedly, he picked his conversation with Felix back up wondering when Marinette would appear. Adrien was vaguely aware of trying to show that he supported Felix taking over his role and that there were no hard feelings.

“-You always did wear fall colours better than me.” Adrien found himself saying as he kept his eye on the door, maybe it would be better to catch her as she came in it’s the first time she’s been this late in a while…

“Agreste.” Adrien was shaken from his thoughts, “Take your seat – you are holding up class.”

“Nah, teacher’s policy. We start class a couple of minutes after the bell to let late students have a chance to get here.” So they don’t become akumatized went unsaid. After-all, there was no reason to worry Felix who was still so new to Paris with something like that. If he knew how easily someone could be akumatized, he might move away.

“Why – ” Adrien immediately tuned out the rest of the question, Marinette was running up the steps. ‘Oh, she is going to be so happy,’ Adrien thought.

“Marinette!”

She jumped about a meter upwards, “Adrien!”

‘Did she not see him standing there?’ He wondered. She attempted to say hello and ask him how he’s been doing with little success. He smiled fondly, “Oh same old, same old. Lila is out sick today. I wanted to know if you wanted to sit at your old seat today.”

Adrien watched as she glanced down at her old row fondly and then quickly to where Felix was sitting. Poor thing. She was probably conflicted over leaving Felix alone. He felt a flush of warmth – that’s why she was his Everyday Ladybug. With the exception of Lila, she always selflessly put others ahead of herself. He knew that she wouldn’t go if Felix indicated that he wanted her to stay close by. Adrien held his breath at Felix’s bored expression over Marinette’s clear anxiety. Finally, after what felt like ages, Felix gave a wave of dismissal so reminiscent of his father that Adrien had to stop himself from thanking the other boy before taking Marinette.

Today was already such a good day.

—–

Footsteps pounding on concrete, Marinette rounded the last corner – the final bell had just rung. She was disappointed in herself, she had promised that getting to school on time was going to be a problem of the past. But she had stayed up so late last night typing up as many notes as she could for Felix, that she slept through the alarms she had set.

Just because she wasn’t really ready to make a new friend didn’t mean that she was going to shirk her responsibilities as student representative. He was counting on those notes – his success depended on her right now. As she bounded up the steps, she felt relief that she wasn’t the only late one. Still, she thought worriedly, it wasn’t like Adrien to be la-“Marinette!”

“Adrien!” she yelped, unprepared for his sudden appearance and tried to compose herself, catch her breath, and ask how he was at the same time.

“Oh same old, same old. Lila is out sick today. I wanted to know if you wanted to sit at your old seat today.” He asked with a twinkle in his eye. He wanted her to sit with him them? She tried and failed to contain a blush, of course, she wanted to sit with him them! But, she thought, shoulders sagging slightly, she wasn’t sure. It seemed every time she tried to re-connect an argument would break out where she’d be the bad guy. Plus, she needed to give Felix the notes he asked for – and found herself being tugged down the steps before she could decline the offer.

Today was already not going to plan.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Love you guys!


	4. Nothing Bad Ever Happens to Me Part 4

“Oh, mother,” Lila whispered hoarsely, “I’m sure I’ll feel much better by lunch.”

Her mother’s brows drew together in concern, “Darling, don’t push yourself too hard. You don’t want to make what you have any worse.”

Lila sat up lightly from her position in bed, “Of course Mother.” She blew her nose delicately, “I promise that if I don’t feel up to it, I won’t go. I’d hate for anyone to get sick because of me.”

Mrs. Rossi bent forward and smoothed her daughter’s bangs to the side and planted a kiss on her forehead. “I know dear, that’s what makes you my special girl.”

Eyes closed, Lila leaned into her mother’s kiss and breathed in deeply. Instead of wearing the perfume that Lila spent weeks picking out, her mother was wearing the one her boyfriend had chosen. She wrinkled her nose. She had forgotten that he was back in Italy. Waiting to take her mother’s precious time away from her again. If Lila got her way – which she was sure she would, he would soon be a forgotten memory for her mother too.

Too soon for Lila’s liking, her mother pulled away softly exclaiming, “Oh my. Is that the time?” as she checked her watch. Mrs. Rossi planted another kiss atop Lila’s head, “Dear, remember to keep your liquids up – I have another late night again, but there’s soup in the fridge.”

Mrs. Rossi paused at her daughter’s doorframe, “I love you. Please feel better.”

“I love you too Mother – don’t worry about me; I’ll be just fine.” Lila called to her retreating back and listened to the click of the front door. Lila meant it too; she always turned up on top. She got what she wanted. And right now, she wanted Felix wrapped around her finger like all the others at school. Yesterday’s research had been a failure, Lila thought as she opened her laptop, but today she would discover what the mysterious new boy liked.

———-

Marinette woke up with her first alarm feeling energized and practically sprang from the confines of her sheets. All thanks to Adrien, yesterday had been amazing, she thought dreamily. Well. It had been overall amazing. At first, everything had been a little stiff and awkward but as the day wore on, she gradually stopped worrying that everything would fall apart. It had felt good to be with everyone again. With luck, she thought as she brushed her hair, today would be a repeat. She caught her eye in the mirror as she was tying her hair into her customary pigtails. Hmm. Maybe she could shake it up a bit.

~

Marinette held a fresh box of croissants and waved goodbye to her parents as she left the bakery. She was proud of herself – she had finished up the notes that Felix requested, got to braid her hair, and, best of all, there was a chance she would be able to sit with her friends again today. After all, maybe Lila really was sick. The chill morning air hit her face pleasantly as she walked.

With a giggle, Tikki flew up to Marinette’s shoulder, “You look like you’re going to start dancing in the streets, Marinette.”

Grinning, Marinette gave a little twirl, “I can’t help it! Look how well today is already going. I finished Felix’s notes, sketched out a phenomenal jacket for Jagged, and I even woke up with the first alarm!”

“Not to mention enough time to make your hair so pretty.” Tikki stroked a lock of her French plait. “I told you that everything would work out.”

Marinette giggled at Tikki’s smug expression, “Yeah, yeah. You’re right.” She stroked Tikki’s forehead with her finger, “Patience and sacrifice pay off in the end. Don’t let it inflate your big head.”

Tikki swatted Marinette’s finger in mock outrage, “My head is not big! It’s perfectly kwami sized!”

Marinette rolled her eyes and held her hands up in surrender, “Of course.”

Tikki nestled against Marinette’s neck, not willing to go back in the purse, but wanting to ward off the morning air all the same.

“Hey Tikki?” Marinette’s carefree attitude slipped a little.

“Mmm?”

“Do you think that Hawk Moth is planning something again? Something big?” Marinette gripped a strap of her backpack and dropped her voice, “Like Hero’s Day?”

Just because the class had become more balanced of late, didn’t mean that the rest of Paris was. Every day it was full of frustrated, upset people. The fact that Hawk Moth had scaled back so drastically made her feel antsy. The lack of akumas made Marinette feel uncomfortable like there was an itch that she couldn’t reach. Tikki plucked at the tense fingers to loosen their grip,

“If he is planning something, we’ll be ready for him. You have grown so much since we’ve been together – I know that we’ll be able to handle whatever he throws at us.”

“Yeah… you’re right,” Marinette straightened her shoulders, “We can do anything as long as we’re together.”

They neared the gates of the school.

“You better hid now though. School awaits.”

Tikki gave Marinette one last pat before diving into the opened purse.

————-

Gabriel Agreste silenced his alarm before dragging his hand down his face. He hadn’t slept last night. Or the night before last for that matter. As of late, his days were a consistent sludge. The upcoming fashion show was eating him alive. He had spent so much time as Hawk Moth, he hadn’t been designing – brushing it off as a future concern. But now the fashion show was practically on top of him and he had very little to show for it.

Groaning, he rang Nathalie and requested she bring him the strongest caffeinated beverage she could find. Cursing himself, he looked over his sketchbook and cursed himself for ignoring the schedule Nathalie had set up for him so many months back. He couldn’t reschedule the show – it would be too suspicious. Enjoy your free time while you can Ladybug, Gabriel thought bitterly. Right now, there was no time for villainy – not when his reputation was on the line.

————

Felix tapped his pen against his desk, thinking. The student representative had certainly been affected by the change in seating yesterday – her shoulder’s, which had been stiffly pulled back in the morning, had relaxed into a more confident pose as the day wore on. Still. There had been something off – just a flicker of unease that held her back. He wondered what it was. A small part of him hoped that it was some kind of epic intrigue. A secret side to her that she was hiding, keeping her from being her true self. But he dismissed the thought almost as soon as it came. Just because he had moved to a place inhabited by superheroes and villains, didn’t mean that everyone’s life was just as fantastical as the city they lived in.

Today his interaction with her had been brief. She apologized for the delay in notes and offered him a croissant. He declined the croissant, he had the model-standard strict diet, but accepted the notes. Then, nonplussed, she left for the seat she sat in yesterday and that was that. Looks like today is another one of observation he thought as he brought his thermos to his lips.

———–

Alya gave Marinette a sly smile as she took a croissant, “Trying to doll it up for our resident sunshine boy?”

Marinette blushed, she hadn’t had Adrien in mind when she changed up her hair – but now her mind started to race with possibilities. Adrien might compliment her hair and if she could manage to keep her cool, then they might start dating. And years from now today would be remembered as their anniversary of first getting together. And –

Alya snapped her fingers in Marinette’s face, “Whoa girl, careful – don’t get lost in la-la land so early in the morning, we might never get you back.”

~

“Girl, don’t look now but Mr. Icicle is burning a hole in the back of your head again. You say something to piss him off or something?”

“Pft. No way, Marinette is sweet as sugar – what could she have done to piss him off in the three days he’s been here?” Nino laughed.

Marinette started to turn around only to be stopped by Alya’s firm hand on her shoulder, “What did I just say?”

Alya continued, “Let’s review the facts: first, he’s barely said five words to anyone here! Second, he completely rebuffs any attempt at conversation. Third, he rejected a croissant.” Alya bit into her own for emphasis, “How on earth could anyone with a soul resist one of these? Even Mr. Top Model’s willpower isn’t that strong.” She gestured towards him, “Look – he’s trying to sneak one as I speak.”

Adrien abruptly snatched his hand out of the box, looking abashed, “Well… you said it yourself – Felix didn’t want one, so that means that there’s extra.”

Marinette rested her hands on her cheeks, Adrien was so cute it should be illegal. She knew she wouldn’t be able to speak so she just nodded when he turned a pleading gaze on her.

“Thanks, Marinette!” Adrien said as he helped himself.

Nino glanced up towards the back, feeling uneasy. Felix really was just staring at the group with an unreadable expression. He didn’t like the way that Felix’s gaze lingered on Marinette in particular. “Hey,” he stated cautiously, “Marinette.”

“Mhm?” Marinette replied, still recovering her speaking faculties.

“Alya’s right. He really is focusing some major lasers on you right now.” He pushed his glasses up, “You’ll tell us if he does anything weird…right?”

Marinette’s eyes widened, where was all of this coming from? Did he unsettle everyone that much? Alya flicked the rim of Nino’s hat down, “What this goofball is trying to say is that Adrien told us that he has a bit of a reputation in the modeling world as being a jerk and that you should watch out.”

“The worst thing I’ve done is give him some notes late.” Marinette tried to turn around again only to be thwarted again by Alya.

“Uh-huh, no way – ” Alya was cut off as Adrien interrupted, “Actually, that might be enough to get on Felix’s bad side. He is… a little temperamental.”

Nino drew her attention again, “Look all I’m saying is that he gives off a weird vibe. Alright?”

Marinette felt a warmth blossom in her chest, Nino really was the right choice for the turtle miraculous. All he wanted to do was protect his friends. Marinette solemnly drew her hand up to her heart, “Nino, I promise that if he does anything I don’t like – I will tell you straight away.”

———

Sometimes, Felix forgot that books weren’t loud. That no one but he could hear the klaxons blaring as the two intrepid heroes made their desperate escape from the deadly, evil Overlord. For him, once properly engaged, the noise of the action would drown out the meaningless chatter around him until he was running down the hallway with the heroes – listening to them as they planned and worried for their safety.

His total engagement with the text meant that any outside distraction was, to say the least, upsetting as he was jarred back into the real world. The sound would abruptly cut out for a disorienting moment and the characters would fade back into the typeface. It was always incredibly aggravating to be ripped away from a story like that.

“Sorry.” A voice said. Only it didn’t sound sorry at all. “I didn’t mean to interrupt. I just wanted to say how much I loved that novel.”

Felix placed his thumb on the page and looked up.

“I’m Lila Rossi, by the way.” She smiled wide, “I was the last new kid to transfer here, so I hope that we will become best friends!” She thrust her hand out to shake.

Felix flicked his eyes to her hand briefly before returning to his book. Hopefully, if he made an example out of Rossi then no one else would try to interrupt him while he read. Obviously, his hope was in vain; he made it a paragraph before she started speaking again.

“Oh! I can understand why you would want to get back to it – it’s just such a good book!” She simpered, “If you want, I could get you a signed autograph from the author the next time I see him…I was recently selected as the voice for the audiobook.”

That got his attention.

Felix trained his eyes on her, “Do go on.”

Lila grinned like the cat that got the canary, “Oh yes. I was a volunteer reader at a hospital one weekend and wouldn’t you know it? The author also happened to be visiting at the same hospital! He heard me reading his book and loved how I read it so much that I was offered on the spot to read for the audiobook!” She finished brightly.

“Well,” Felix cocked and eyebrow and pulled his lips into a half smile, “Isn’t this just a happy occurrence?”

The five minute warning bell went off and students began to file in from lunch.

“You better go to your seat Miss Rossi.” Felix said sotto voce, “Wouldn’t want to be late.”

Rossi giggled and sauntered away.

———-

Marinette fought off a groan of disappointment; Lila was back. She turned her eyes heavenward as if to ask why the gods hated her. Guess it was too much to hope for a day as perfect as yesterday. But maybe, she thought as she eyed Lila striking up a conversation with Felix, this was a hidden opportunity?

“Do you think it would be alright if I stayed here? Just for today?” Marinette timidly asked her friends.

Alya sighed, “C’mon girl, you know that Lila needs this seat.”

Marinette felt her shoulders sag slightly, knowing it was a lost battle as Adrien averted his gaze and Nino nodded along with Alya. She didn’t understand why he let them believe her lies.

The warning bell rang.

“Oh Marinette,” Lila greeted with false enthusiasm as she approached, “Do you want to finish today with your friends? I could always sit in the back with Felix.”

“Oh, but Lila,” Marinette answered in the same tone, “Don’t you have terrible hearing difficulty?”

She had her! Lila was contradicting herself!

Lila’s smile was shark-like, “It turns out that my hearing issue was a longstanding symptom of what I was sick with yesterday. But I’m much better now and would be happy to move for today! He and I already have so much in common.” Lila continued slyly, “Plus, I would love to get to know Felix more and share some of the things I wish I had known when I first got here.”

Marinette grit her teeth through her smile. She should have seen that coming.

“That sounds like it was serious.” Marinette pulled her phone out, “Would you mind telling me the name of the disease, so I can look at the symptoms? I wouldn’t want to be caught off guard.”

“I – It’s rare.” Lila hand waved, “I must have gotten it from my extensive travels.”

“I just want to know the name of what you had.” Marinette pressed, “Unless you made it up?”

“Marinette!” Alya spoke up, “That’s enough. If it’s rare then the name is probably long and hard to remember, right Lila?”

“I’m sorry I don’t remember Marinette,” Lila’s eyes started to well up, “I’ve just been suffering for so long with it, the relief of having it gone is so strong that I don’t even want to think about it anymore.”

Alya stood between Marinette and Lila to place a comforting hand on the latter’s shoulder. “Hey,” She said softly, “It’s ok. We understand.” And sent a sharp look at Marinette. “She made a nice offer. What do you say? Swap for a day?”

Marinette’s eyes darted from the empty seat to empty seat, feeling her pulse start to ebb. She bit her lip as she thought about it. It was tempting. It was what Marinette wanted. And that’s what so obviously made it a trap. She turned over what Lila said before Marinette challenged her sickness and the big picture clicked into place. Marinette felt her resolve harden – she had to warn Felix that Lila was a lying snake.

She picked up her bag. “Actually Lila, thank you but no thank you – I should sit in my assigned seat.”

Lila’s face crumpled, “I can’t believe you don’t want me to make new friends.”

Marinette placed her foot on the first step.

“I cannot believe that you would be this petty Marinette.” Alya hissed.

Marinette’s shoulders hunched but she continued upwards.

—————–

“She’s a liar, you know,” hissed a voice in his left ear, “Whatever she told you – it’s a lie.”

Startled, Felix realized that Marinette was sitting beside him once more. When he frowned at her, she tensed like she was preparing for a fight. His frown deepened further in response, “I’m not an idiot, thank you very much. I know a liar when I hear one.”

“How?” she demanded.

“How?” Felix questioned back sarcastically and rolled his eyes. “Pretty easy to tell it’s a lie when the author of my book has been dead for the last 20 years.”

Her laughter caught him off guard.

She couldn’t help it; the relief of having someone know that Lila was a liar paired with his deadpan delivery was too much for her. The laugh that followed came straight up from her stomach and through her mouth.

“Personally,” Felix leaned closer and murmured, “I can’t wait to see the look on her face when she realizes her mistake.”

Tears of mirth formed in Marinette’s eyes as she laughed helplessly. This was too perfect.

————–

This was more what he pictured Dupain-Cheng to be like. Mirthful.

He knew that no one who wore as much pink as she did could be as serious a person as she first presented as. Felix found that he liked it better when Dupain-Cheng looked like she fully enjoying herself. He hadn’t actually meant to be funny, but once she started laughing, an impish desire had him leaning forward deliberately to see how hard he could make her laugh.

“Do you think she’ll be able to look me in the eyes once she learns?”

He grinned as the tears started to escape down her cheeks.

“How long do you think it’ll be before she can?” He practically purred.

“Twenty –” Marinette gasped, “Twenty years!” and promptly collapsed back into giggles.

His smile was toothy and full. This was too fun, he thought and raised his voice so Dupain-Cheng could hear him over her own noise, “Now quiet, you are going to disrupt class.”

She wiped her eyes with the back of her sleeve.

“It’s nice to actually meet you.” Felix said more quietly now that she had herself mostly under control.

“Nice to meet you too.” Marinette sniffled back. She hadn’t laughed, truly laughed, like that in ages. It had felt good to sit with her friends but it felt better to be believed. Tikki was right again, Marinette thought ruefully, she wasn’t alone.

“Let’s be friends,” Marinette said a little impulsively.

“For twenty years,” Felix said warmly by way of agreement and watched with amusement how red Marinette turned as she tried to reign in her composure once more.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The scene with Felix and Marinette was one of my favourite scenes to write. It started out as a couple of little snippets and is growing into the story that you are reading now.


	5. Nothing Bad Ever Happens to Me Part 5: I see them scream, but I hear no sound

Adrien looked up from his lap when Felix’s commanding voice rang out and gasped softly. He knew this would happen – Marinette was crying! He tugged at Nino’s shirtsleeve to get his attention.

“Is Marinette crying?” Nino asked incredulously.

“Oh poor Marinette!” Lila breathed out at the sight, just managing to stifle the triumph in her voice in order to sound appropriately sympathetic. It would seem like Adrien was right – the new boy had a mean streak. ‘Maybe we can bond over making that busybody miserable?’ She thought smugly, careful to keep her expression as sympathetic as her voice.

“Pfft, what? Marinette never cries.” Alya didn’t look up from her phone, “It’s probably crocodile tears. I’m not interested in her self-imposed pity party. Especially if she insists on being such a bitch to Lila.”

“Alya!” Nino couldn’t help the incredulous note that crept into his admonishing tone.

“What? You were here, you saw how Marinette decided to abandon us – all so she could prevent Lila from making a new friend.” Alya stated indignantly, “I told you that she was on thin fucking ice with her attitude, that doesn’t just magically stop because she’s crying. Really, she deserves whatever she got from that bully. He was obviously already pissed at her. Or did you forget how he was glaring at her all morning?”

‘I wonder what she did to piss him off?’ Lila’s ears perked with that new information. ‘I hope I can find a way to twist the knife further.’

Adrien gaped. He couldn’t believe that Alya, the girl that encouraged Marinette to stand up to Chloe, was so quick to turn from her. His eyes slid surreptitiously to Lila’s face, her eyes blown wide with shock over Marinette’s tears, watching for any signs of subterfuge. Could Lila have had anything to do with this? He dismissed the thought, so far Lila had only lied about herself to gain positive attention – a thing that he didn’t condone but could understand. He knew, possibly better than anyone, what it felt like to crave attention and affection. Besides, she had been the one to compromise and offer an olive branch, it had to mean something. It wasn’t like Lila had planned for Alya and Marinette to fight.

Marinette.

Adrien’s brows creased as he concluded that this whole incident was more Marinette’s fault than anyone else’s. Tears or not, this reflected poorly on her: usually she was the one coming up with peaceful solutions, not trampling over them. Why was she making everything so difficult? They had agreed to try and get along with Lila. ‘Maybe this is a good thing,’ he thought hesitantly, ‘Maybe Marinette needs to learn the hard way that she’s only hurting herself.’

He ignored the uncomfortable pit that formed in his stomach at the thought.

————

Nino pulled a face and turned around sure that if he said anything else, they would only end up fighting further. But what Alya said was out of line. That was his best friend since childhood. It should have meant something: ‘But here I am,’ Nino thought, ‘sitting here, doing nothing while Marinette uses the back of her sleeve to wipe tears from her eyes.’ He hunched his back in anger and shame.

~

Hours later, he was still stewing; staring at the ceiling in his room. He wished that he’d offered to take her place in the back. It would have been an easy way to show that he hadn’t abandoned her. Maybe, if he had offered, Marinette and Lila would have finally put aside their differences. Maybe Marinette and Alya would still be best friends. Maybe he wouldn’t feel cold whispers of contempt when he looked at Alya or thought about what she said about Marinette when she wasn’t there. Nino slid his eyes closed and inhaled deeply, groping for the old bubble bottle he kept on his nightstand and held it to his chest. Logically, he knew that it was probably dangerous to keep the item that had once turned him into a monster. Especially since he knew that he could get re-akumatized. But…he sort of liked the reminder of how far he had come. Before it had turned him into The Bubbler, it was a comfort – an easy way to blow his frustrations into bubbles and watch them drift away. It had been meditative.

Though after being The Bubbler, it had transformed from a stress-relief-in-a-bottle to an object used to inflict terror in Nino’s eyes. After seeing how nervous it made his classmates, it had been relegated to the back of his closet because he didn’t have the heart to permanently throw it away. So there it haunted him for months. That changed when Ladybug selected him to be Carapace – despite his past transgression. He had dug it out from the back of the closet and painted it, as best as he was able, with a turtle shell pattern. Nino fingered the lid contemplating; whether he was a monster or a hero, the only constant between the two forms was his drive to protect his friends’ happiness. The air drained slowly from his lungs; right now, he knew he was doing a shoddy job. But starting now, Nino swore to himself, he would do better. He would keep an eye out and shield Marinette – fight with Alya or not. She deserved to have her oldest friend on her side.

————

Marinette tossed and turned, frightening images flashing through her mind. It was like the world was ending all around her was the last thing she thought before gasping awake, tossing the over warm comforter away from her body. Breathing hard, she discovered that she had woken up half an hour before her first alarm. She grimaced at the clammy, sticky feel of her skin and decided that a shower would be a more valuable use of her time than extra sleep would be.

Under the warm spray of the water, Marinette tried to concentrate on what exactly she had seen – she couldn’t tell if the snippets she remembered belonged to parts of different nightmares or if they had all been a part of a larger nightmare. She sighed as she let the warm water travel down her face.

Later, warmed by the shower and feeling slightly more human, Marinette sat down and started plaiting her hair soothed by the mechanical motion. A red blur in the mirror caught her eye.

“Morning Tikki,” Marinette yawned, “Did you sleep ok?”

Tikki stilled behind her, her large eyes held Marinette’s in the mirror, looking deep and darker than Marinette remembered.

“Yup, once you started rolling around – I moved to the chaise lounge to sleep.” Tikki’s chipper voice broke Marinette’s train of thought. “You must have slept better than I thought, if you are getting ready so early.”

Marinette gestured to the bags under her eyes, “C’mon, you don’t have to pretend that you don’t see them. I slept terribly.”

Tikki tilted her head, “Why? Did you feel bad about leaving your friends again?”

Marinette turned away from the mirror, “No… it wasn’t that. Though that could have gone better.”

“I’ll say,” Tikki tittered before sobering and adding, “It was very un-Ladybug of you to not take the olive branch that Lila was offering.”

“Tikki!” Marinette rebuked, “That was a fake olive branch! She was trying to lie to Felix!”

Marinette’s phone alarm chimed loudly in her room, reminding her that she needed to finish getting ready for school. She decided that she could talk to Tikki about her nightmare later.

————

“Wow, you look a sight Marinette.” Felix hummed by way of greeting as Marinette took her seat beside him, thumping her bag to the floor.

“Ugh, don’t remind me. I’m exhausted.” She slumped in her seat, “I didn’t sleep well last night.”

The corners of Felix’s mouth twitched upwards, “Oh, that’s nothing a little coffee won’t fix.”

With flair he presented and opened his thermos, pouring some coffee out into the provided mug – tutting when Marinette moved to protest and pushed the warm mug into her hand, assuring her that he was a gentleman and would drink from the thermos. She stared down at the dark liquid.

“Um, Felix?” Marinette asked, “Do you have any cream or sugar? I don’t usually take my coffee black.”

“No.” he started to shake his head but stopped and squinted in thought. “Actually, I might have something that could work.” He thought aloud and rummaged in his bag.

“Ah, ha!”

He slapped down a half empty package of TimTams. She stared blankly at the packet and looked at Felix questioningly.

“You know – the chocolate biscuits?” He said leadingly, as if that would clear things up for Marinette. When she continued to stare blankly he huffed and elaborated, “If you bite the ends, then you can use it as a straw.”

“What are you, five?” Marinette smiled.

“What five-year-old drinks coffee?” Felix shot back.

“Besides, what are you doing with sweets? I thought you had a super strict diet.” Marinette teased, tossing the bag softly in one hand. Felix rolled his eyes in response.

“I do. One of these are only 80 calories, I’ll have you know. I ration.” He took a sip of coffee, pleased that for all her teasing, she followed his direction and obligingly took a sip of her own coffee through her improvised straw. He was happy to note that it must have sweetened her coffee enough for her to keep drinking. He clapped his hands together,

“Now back to topic – why couldn’t you sleep well?”

“Oh it’s nothing, really,” Marinette said between sips, “Just had a bad dream last night.”

Felix raised a brow, “Must have been a pretty bad one if it’s made you this tired. What happened?”

When she didn’t immediately respond, Felix worried that he had overstepped. After all, they had only been officially friends since yesterday – maybe this topic was too personal, too soon. Just as he was about to change the subject Marinette replied,

“You know? It’s strange – it was such a vivid, terrifying dream, but now all I can recall are bits and pieces.” She furrowed her brows in thought, “It felt important though, like something I shouldn’t forget. I wish I could remember more than just spots of light and yelling.” She rubbed her eye with the heel of her hand and sighed.

“Hm.” Felix would have said more if a shadow hadn’t fallen over their desk.

————

Nino arrived to the class early, intending on catching Felix alone.

He just wanted to talk to Felix about Marinette and ask him to apologize. He was disappointed to find the conversation subject had beaten him to the punch.

‘It’s so strange to see Marinette in class so early,’ Nino reflected as he paused unnoticed in the doorframe. He hadn’t thought about it before but now he realized that it had been a while since Marinette arrived to class by the skin of her teeth and felt more guilt settle in his stomach for not noticing sooner. How long had he been ignoring her in favour of hanging out with the rest of the group? One week? Two? Marinette and Felix looked like they had mended fences over whatever they fought about yesterday, if the shared coffee was anything to go by. Nino was tempted to turn around right then and wait for Alya in the courtyard – and he would have, if not for the weight of the bubble blower in his back pocket. Maybe Marinette didn’t need his protection, but that didn’t mean that she couldn’t use another friend.

~

“Hm.”

Conversation had reached a lull by the time that Nino’s approach was noticed. Two blue eyes fixed their gaze on him, one curious and one slightly hostile.

“What do you want Nino?” Marinette bit out, eyes narrowed in annoyance, “Are you going to tell me that Lila has to sit here now?”

“Hey, woah,” Nino raised his palms in a placating manner, “It’s not like that, like, at all – I just wanted to see if you were ok. Yesterday got pretty tense.”

Marinette didn’t miss the way that Nino briefly looked at Felix, like it was somehow Felix’s fault that yesterday had turned out the way it did.

“Ok?” fury constricted in Marinette’s throat, “Now you care if I’m doing alright?”

Nino cut in before Marinette could work herself up further, half worried that an akuma would come flying for her, “Look – I’m sorry.” He ran his hand over the back of his cap and down his neck, “I haven’t been a good friend lately.”

Marinette crossed her arms as Nino continued, “And yesterday wasn’t cool. Alya was way out of line and I should have said something. Anything, really. So, I just want to say that I am here for you and any time you want to sit in the front, just ask me.”

“Nino,” Marinette started.

“What makes you assume that she wants to sit in the front?” Felix cut in.

Nino opened and closed his mouth, throwing a helpless look to Marinette. In response, she just raised a brow. Suddenly, Nino felt wrong footed.

“Perhaps distance is the best solution…” Felix trailed off.

“Lahiffe.” Marinette supplied.

“…Mr. Lahiffe.” Felix continued on, “it seems like there are a few unsavory characters in the front row.”

“Not fair, man. You don’t even kno–”

Felix stared down his nose at Nino, “I hardly think I have to know someone to see bad behaviour. You may go.” He flicked his fingers out, “Now, please.”

Nino stood his ground and clenched his fists, how dare he? He came here for Marinette – not to be put on trial by this self-entitled creep. For the second time this morning, he was tempted to simply leave for the courtyard, Marinette obviously didn’t want him around so why should he bother? But then he took another look at Marinette. At the bags under her eyes and the tired slump of her shoulders. Without really thinking about it, Nino groped for his bubble bottle and clenched it tightly by his side. He took a deep breath, “Look, dude, this isn’t between us. Marinette, please look at me.”

When he had her gaze, he continued, “I meant what I said. I am sorry. I’m here for you now, even if you don’t want me to be.”

He took one last glance at the bubbler clenched in his fist then placed it next to her mug before heading to his seat.

Marinette stared after the sight of Nino’s retreating back before resting on the painted bubble bottle.

“I’m throwing away rubbish,” Felix announced as he gathered up the TimTam wrapper, a crumpled napkin, and pointed at the bottle in front of her, “Do you want me to get that junk for you?”

Marinette slowly shook her head wrapping her fingers around it loosely.

“It’s not junk,” she said softly.


	6. Nothing Bad Ever Happens to Me Part 6: And the Terrible things happen down the road, to somebody else that I don't even know

“Marinette!” Tikki’s cry came rushing from her purse the minute the two were safely in her bedroom. “I cannot believe your behaviour today!”

Paying no heed to her kwami’s ire, Marinette crossed the room to rifle through her swatches, searching for the right texture and colour combination. 

“What are you talking about Tikki?” Marinette asked distractedly, mentally comparing fabric weights and discarding those that didn’t feel substantial enough. 

“Nino tried to apologize to you and you didn’t forgive him!” Tikki spluttered out.  
Marinette, undaunted by her kwami, slowed her rifling and thoughtfully stroked a piece of leather. It was a little thinner than what she was looking for but it was higher in quality than the rest of her leather samples. She hesitated a moment, when she checked the sticker she had placed on the back of it, it was expensive: but, she canted her head to the side, Jagged was always insisting that no expensive was too great – all he asked for was that it was a one-of-a-kind creation. She moved the piece to her sketchbook, flipped to Jagged’s measurements, and took out another notebook and started to calculate what the total cost of her order would be.

“That’s because I’m still mad at him.” Marinette finally replied to the agitated being.

“But you’re Ladybug!” Tikki shrilled near her ear, “You are supposed to represent kindness and hope and I thought that we already talked about you not being upset over being moved to the back!”

“Well it’s lucky then that I wasn’t wearing my spots when he came over this morning,” Marinette sneered, pressing her pencil into the page, “I’m allowed to be angry over being treated poorly.” 

Tikki grabbed the pencil out of Marinette’s hand and waved it like a wagging finger, affecting a tone a parent would use to scold their child. “Just because there haven’t been any akumas lately doesn’t mean that they aren’t a risk. You could have been the cause of his akumatization. Or worse! Your anger could make you vulnerable to an akuma!”

Marinette snatched her pencil back. 

“Tikki,” Marinette said sharply, “Just stop. Nothing bad happened. We both know better than anyone that akumas only target those who don’t see a solution to their problem. You’ve said as much.”

Now too angry to concentrate properly on the figures in front of her she laid her notebook aside and paced around the room. I’m allowed to be angry, she thought, I can’t be Ladybug all the time. But even as those thoughts flitted through her head, doubts began to form. Maybe she should have found a way to end things better with Nino. 

“I think that new boy is going to be a bad influence for you.” Tikki said out of the blue. 

Marinette whipped around to face Tikki, “You’re the one that encouraged me to become friends with him in the first place!”

“That was before I knew what he acted like.” Tikki sniffed and fished out a macaron. “You would have forgiven Nino if he hadn’t placed himself in your conversation.”

Marinette made a noise of exasperation in the back of her throat, “I don’t want to deal with you right now. I’m going for a run. You stay here.” 

———-

Felix held his pose while the cameras endlessly clicked away. Just as his muscles began to tremble and sweat started to bud on the back of his neck, the bell rang allowing him fifteen minutes between sets. He had to admit – the raw edge of this collection was at odds with gauzy, cream-coloured pieces that were emblematic of the Agreste brand. Each piece hinted at a deep seated frustration. He supposed that the frequency of the akuma attacks had something to do with this shift, after all, living in constant fear of attacks and having to repress that same emotion lest you become targeted would leave its mark on the population. And secretly, he was thrilled; he was sure that he’d stand out – in his opinion dark clothing suited his complexion better – he hated how the pale clothing washed out his equally pale face. 

Maybe Agreste actually did have something to worry about after-all, Felix thought, admiring the figure he cut in the mirror before him. 

He readied himself for the next session – it was to be a paired shot with another model. Stepping out, Felix was surprised to see Agreste come out of the screen opposite. Usually Agreste stuck to the more lighthearted pieces, but Agreste wasn’t the top model for nothing – he was capable of wearing almost anything: glowing in white and striking in black. The surprise faded fast when Felix remembered that Agreste saw him as a threat and that this was likely a power move. No better way to outshine someone than to literally outshine them by forcing a direct comparison. 

“Agreste.” Felix inclined his head and stood by his mark. 

“Felix.” Agreste greeted back a little coldly. Felix quirked a brow over the unusual greeting especially considering how bubbly Agreste had been on his second day but was not overly surprised, to him it sounded exactly like one rival meeting another. 

(That’s great! This piece needs tension to be perfect!” A photographer enthusiastically called out.)

“I wanted to talk to you yesterday, but you disappeared so fast.” Agreste said out of the corner of his mouth. 

Felix was aware how quickly he had left the school’s premises. It had been on purpose. He hadn’t wanted to be subjected to an endless parade of Marinette’s former desk-mates. 

“Can it wait?” Felix muttered back, “There are better opportunities to practice ventriloquism than in the middle of a shoot.” 

“This is important.” Agreste stressed. 

(“Perfect! Perfect!” A voice cried from behind the blinding lights, “Show me animosity!”)

“Fine.” Felix rolled his eyes while the cameras clicked away. “Say whatever it is that you want.”

Adrien gave Felix a measured look, “You made Marinette cry.”

“Tears of laughter, I promise.” 

Two red spots of colour appeared on Agreste’s cheek, “Felix! Take it serious. It’s not cool.”

(“Yes! Move closer! Felix, adjust your collar and show us some ice!”) 

“Like you’re taking this photoshoot seriously?” Felix lowly shot back.

Both boys glared at each other. 

Adrien, at the direction of the photographer, ran his hand roughly through his hair, “Look, Marinette is a very dear friend – I don’t want to see her hurt.”

Felix glared down his nose at Agreste, declining to say more. It was no concern of his if Agreste couldn’t recognize when he was being honest. He sneered as the cameras flashed behind the bright lights. Did the idiot not understand that tone of voice was just as important as the words being spoken?

“I want us to be friends. I do. But I don’t know if I can be with someone who doesn’t care that they’ve made someone cry.” Agreste continued on. 

The bell rang to signal another fifteen minute recess. Apparently not, Felix thought as he turned to full face the idiot in front of him. “Oh,” Felix covered his mouth with mock surprise, “Oh my. You can’t be friends with me but you have no problem being friends with that liar? How utterly backwards of you.”

Agreste’s flush deepened in anger, “Leave Lila out of this she’s not –” his brain seemed to catch up to his knee jerk reaction, “Did Marinette tell you about Lila lying? I can’t believe it! She promised she wouldn’t expose her.”

For the second time that day, Felix was taken by surprise. Up to this point, he had just thought that Agreste was gullible – like the boy with the misguided apology. But Agreste not only knew that Lila was a liar but was actively avoiding exposing her? Yesterday, I was just trying to rile up Lahiffe, Felix thought, but it would seem I was spot on about there being unsavory characters that Marinette should avoid. 

“If this is how you treat people you call a ‘friend’, I can assure you that I am not interested,” Felix shouldered his way past Agreste, “Now, if you’ll excuse me, some of us actually have to work to keep our jobs.”

———-

The run last night had been beneficial for both her and Tikki, the time away had helped to clear both of their heads. When Marinette returned, the both of them blurted out their apologies for letting the argument go so far. Like kwami, like chosen Marinette thought ruefully – her impulsive nature had obviously rubbed off on Tikki, why else would Tikki jump to catastrophizing her new friendship? Marinette had joked that before long, they would become the same person and Tikki had laughed brightly pointing out that technically they did when she was Ladybug. But, despite clearing the air before going to sleep, a new nightmare ran amok in Marinette’s mind. 

When she woke, she was determined that this time she would remember and grabbed a pen. Just when she sat down to record the events Tikki popped up, all grins and excitement, clutching a letter. Inside was an invitation to attend the Fashion show this weekend as Jagged Stone’s plus one. This was her chance, she thought dizzily, a fashion show would be the perfect time to debut and reveal herself as MDC. With so much to do so suddenly, Marinette rocketed out of her room. 

And her dream journal lay forgotten.  
~  
Only a day to go before the Fall Fashion Show! Marinette thought giddily as she fiddled around with her boutique store on her tablet. She wanted to be sure that it would automatically update her new pieces the night of the big event. 

“Will you please stop humming?” Felix complained, “It’s early and I don’t want that tune getting stuck in my head.”

Marinette smiled at her companion who was burying his head in his arms. “Not a fan of Jagged Stone?”

“No… I like the guy. I’m just not awake.” Felix rubbed his face with his forearm, “I forgot my coffee.”

He sighed melodramatically and buried his face deeper into his arms. Marinette giggled and reached out a hand to ruffle his hair. As expected, he lifted his head and grumblingly swatted at her hand with his own. Marinette swore she caught an amused glint in his narrowed eyes over her antics as he captured her hand and brought it to her lap. 

“Stay.” He commanded the hand with a pat as if it were a dog before settling his head back down, not bothering to smooth his hair. 

“Felix, if you can hold on till the bell I can ask my maman to bring some.” Marinette said taking pity and brought her phone out to send her mother a text.  
Immediately, he perked up, all traces of exhaustion erased. “She would do that?”

He is so funny, Marinette thought smothering a smile and nodded. 

“Then I will buy you whatever it was that you were looking at as thanks.” He declared

“Huh?”

“From the designer boutique you were looking at – MDC, right?” Felix nodded towards her tablet she had clutched to her chest, “Someone who designs for Jagged Stone is bound to be expensive. But no matter, I have money and you are more than worth it.” 

All this over coffee? Marinette felt her cheeks warm at the thought followed closely by: He didn’t see that I was editing the boutique?

Marinette snorted and bit her lip, this was too precious. He was really offering to buy her clothing from her own boutique? 

“I’m serious,” Felix seemed to think that she was laughing at him, “Just send me a link and I’ll buy whatever you pick out.”

His shoulders relaxed when Marinette agreed to send him a link but “Not anything from MDC – I was just browsing.” Although it would have been funny, she didn’t feel that it would have been honest to accept money to wear her own clothes. Plus, she privately thought biting the inside of her cheek, nothing was going to be funnier than his expression when she debuted at the show arm-in-arm with Jagged Stone.

———-

“Ugh. Look at them.” Alya scoffed as she watched Marinette lead Felix towards her parent’s bakery, “I told you they were alligator tears.”

“We’ve been over this,” Nino sighed tiredly, “Just because they’re buds now doesn’t mean that whatever happened hadn’t hurt here then. She has feelings too Alya. You haven’t even asked her what happened.”

“Oh. So you’re on her side now?” Alya bristled. Why would she go talk to Marinette when she had already figured it out? 

Nino ran his hand down his face, “Alya, there aren’t any sides – just friends with hurt feelings.” 

“Babe. I get that you and Marinette were tight when you two were kids, but you gotta take the blindfold off. Each day she’s becoming a worse bully.” Alya pinched the bridge of her nose, pushing her glasses up as she did so, feeling a headache coming on. Privately, Lila had confided in Alya that this was Marinette’s typical behaviour when she was outside of school – she would bully Lila when no one was watching and then cry to any passerby to make it seem like she was the victim. Alya had wanted to break it to him more slowly, but he was really pushing her patience with his outdated view of Marinette. 

“Outside of school, Marinette has been bullying Lila. Like, throwing rocks at her window and then pushing her around when she goes outside to ask her to stop.” Alya hoped that this would make Nino see that he shouldn’t be defending Marinette but instead condemning her – she hated it when bullies got away with their bullying. 

“C’mon Alya. That doesn’t sound like Marinette. You know better than that.”

Alya’s patience boiled over. “No. I really don’t.” Alya slashed her hand in front of her in frustration, “I’ve only known Marinette for what? Like a year? That’s not long enough to know what someone is really like.”

Alya ground her teeth when Nino asked whether or not she’d seen any of this happen herself. Now he was stomping on her journalistic integrity?

“Now you think Lila’s a liar? Lila is new; there’s literally no reason for her to lie about this. Marinette is popular – lying about her would turn people against her.” She snippily replied. 

“Dude, Lila is newer than you! If a year is too short a time to get to know someone, then a few months is too short a time to trust someone! I’ve known Marinette my whole life! She’s sweet and caring and –”

“If Marinette is so nice, then why is she acting like a bitch now?” Alya interrupted waspishly, recovering quickly from her shock – it was rare for Nino to raise his voice in anger. “Maybe you don’t know her as well as you thought you did?”  
“Then, by that logic, you don’t know me at all either!” There was an edge to his voice that bordered on anguish.

Both were breathing hard and Alya would have said more if she hadn’t noticed the way Nino’s eyes flicked around the room. She went very still, gaze darting, and asked in a low voice,

“Akuma?”

“No sign yet.” Nino replied rigidly. 

Despite being furious with Nino for not listening to her, she was ready to defend him – she was not letting him get akumatized over an argument like this. They watched the window and doors for a few tense seconds, muscles coiled, but even when an akuma failed to materialize, neither relaxed. Remembering that arguments like this could have dangerous consequences seemed to have the oxygen out of the atmosphere – leaving a vacuum of silence in its wake. 

“Man,” Nino spoke after an endless moment, shaking his head, “I’m done; I’m going home.”

He grabbed his bag and started walking towards the courtyard gates. Done? Done with what? Alya thought. Done with the fight? Her heart plummeted into her stomach. Done with her?

“Nino? Nino!” Alya called after him. He didn’t turn around and gave no indication of having heard her. Dread curdled in her stomach. Couples fight sometimes, right? 

A gentle hand touched her shoulder, 

“Hey girl, that looked pretty intense. You want to talk about it?” Lila asked softly. 

“Girl, you have no idea.” Alya hunched her shoulders, embarrassed to be caught out and embarrassed to have had the argument in the first place. It wasn’t what she had wanted. 

“It’s no problem.” Lila soothed, “It’s what best friends are for, right?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And Now the posting mania has stopped as we are currently caught up until Part 7. Hope you are all enjoying so far =)


	7. Part 6.5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey everyone! Here is a short in-between chapter! I still plan on putting out a proper part 7 this week. Hope you all enjoy 
> 
> Warning: Possibly triggering Emotional Manipulation, please proceed with caution.

“…and then! And then he said he was ‘Done’!” Alya sobbed onto Lila’s shoulder. Though she felt horrible for how their conversation had spiraled out of control and turned into a fight, she didn’t quite regret it. She was trying to be a good friend to Lila and a good girlfriend to Nino. Why couldn’t he see that she was trying her best to help the people she loved? She cried loudly, feeling hurt that Nino didn’t believe her. And even though she was furious with Marinette, a small part cried for her as well. And an even smaller part of her guiltily wished that it was Marinette comforting her instead of Lila. She dearly wished that Marinette would revert back to the Marinette she first knew – the kind, selfless one.

The one that always knew how to smooth things over whenever she and Nino fought.

The one that always volunteered to help out – no matter how big or small the task was.

The one that always lent her support when Alya took the lead.

…The one that always smelled like baked goods and a warm hug.

In a moment of reflection, Alya realized why the fight had spiraled out of control – _she was jealous._

Seeing Marinette interacting with Felix, looking completely at ease, rubbed her the wrong way because Marinette looked exactly like how Alya pictured her in her mind’s eye: soft, warm, and gentle. Completely at odds with their last two interactions, where instead Marinette looked like there was a string attached to her spine that wouldn’t let her relax. It had taken a lot of willpower to keep herself from marching over and shaking Marinette’s shoulders while shouting, ‘This is how you are supposed to be with me!’

Alya swallowed against the sudden influx of emotion. _Was this how Marinette felt when she sees me hang out with Lila?_ The thought struck Alya and she resisted the temptation to talk through these feelings with Lila, fearful of hurting her friend’s feelings. She felt disloyal. How could she think of talking about Marinette like that to the girl Marinette was currently terrorizing? It wouldn’t be right. Alya had to remember that Marinette wasn’t someone she knew anymore.

Lila picked up the thread of conversation when it became clear that Alya had run out of things to say.

“I don’t think that Nino meant that he was done with you,” Lila said, stroking Alya’s back, “I think he was probably overwhelmed, you know? He’s just so empathetic that hearing the truth like that about Marinette would’ve been shocking.”

Alya glanced up at Lila, “He is. He really is.” Alya wiped her nose with the back of her hand, “He cares about everyone so much.”

“See? Next time you see him, I’m sure that this will all be water under the bridge.” Lila smiled down at her, “It really means so much to me that you would defend me like this.”

Alya smiled back and took a calming breath, “And thank you for having my back through this drama-dump. I feel a lot better.”

——----

“I don’t think that Nino meant that he was done with you,” Lila rubbed slow circles onto Alya’s back, wondering when this whole ordeal would finish, “I think that he was probably just overwhelmed, you know? He’s just so empathetic that hearing the truth like that about Marinette would’ve been shocking.”

As Alya’s crying reduced down to the occasional hiccup, Lila thought about how she might use this information for later. It had been a stroke of luck that she had happened to walk by just as the climax of the fight occurred, allowing her to step in and play confidante.

When Alya fixed her large hazel eyes on her, desperate to believe her, Lila held down her glee at having someone so thoroughly under her thumb.

“See? Next time you see him, I’m sure that this will all be water under the bridge,” Lila smiled down at her, “It really means so much to me that you would defend me like this.”

Personally, she doubted that things would actually be ok when Nino next saw Alya, but that wasn’t her problem. Any future fights would just become more information for her to use later.

_Finally,_ she thought as she left Alya to go home.

To this day, she couldn’t believe how fast and easy it was to manipulate Alya– all she had to do was play with her innate sense of justice and occasionally escalate a situation. It was sad really, how easy it was to drive a wedge between her and Marinette. Of course, she thought, the only one more easily manipulated than Alya was Adrien.

“Adrien,” she tutted to herself, “Adrien, Adrien, Adrien.”

So gullible and desperate to make and maintain friends; he would believe any scrap of perceived overture of friendship and ‘improvement’. All she had to do with him was make Marinette seem like the smaller person in his eyes. Easy to do when Adrien placed Marinette on a pedestal and Marinette was so easily riled by her lies.

Isolating Marinette from her friends was going so well, it was almost child’s play. Lila couldn’t help but envision the day that, broken and desperate, Marinette would crawl on her hands and knees to her and beg her to stop. And Lila, in her infinite mercy, would grant Marinette’s wish and allow her back into the embrace of her friend’s arms – on the condition that she would forever be at her beck and call. Why, Marinette would practically become glued to her side as her new best friend. Of course, she thought wickedly, the torment would never truly stop – Marinette still needed to be reminded of her impertinence. The idea of making Marinette agree to her every lie and provide alibi’s for her larger ones was just the first bullet point of her list.

But, the arrival of the new student threatened her control. Especially now that, according to Alya, the two of them were becoming closer each day.

But she found that half the fun was creating new ways to drive a wedge between Marinette and everyone she liked. Luckily, her research had finally paid off and the Fall Fashion show provided her an excellent opportunity to execute her newest plan. Since the Fashion show was exclusive, poor, little, Marinette wouldn’t find out about the damage until it was too late.

She pulled out her phone and sent a message.

**Adrien! <3 Marinette and I made up! And you won’t believe it, but she told me the best way to help your friendship with Felix! All I need you to do is use your plus one invitation…**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Who do you think Lila wants Adrien to invite? As always, I love hearing from you guys, so please don't hesitate to leave a comment or reaction.   
And a special note to Chucklebunny, since you can't resist the sound of your name being mentioned-> =P


	8. Fashion in Action

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, I wound up scrapping the entire original chapter I had written for Part 7. Anyways, I hope you enjoy

“So, Marinette, I was wondering,” Felix paused to take a sip of his coffee before continuing in what he hoped was a casual tone, “What if, instead of me buying you something from a boutique, you got to see fashion in action?”

Internally, Felix cringed. _Fashion in Action?_ Could he have made his invitation sound any _more_ like an educational video?

“It’s just,” he picked at the plastic rim of his coffee cup, trying to recover his equilibrium, “Even though it’s an exclusive event, we, the models – that is, are allowed to bring a guest. And since you seem interested in fashion, I thought you would – you know, want to go.”

He gave her a queasy smile, fighting off an odd fit of nerves before taking a large gulp of scalding coffee. _What on Earth was that Culpa?_ He internally berated himself as he finished his disaster of an invitation. There was no reason to be nervous over inviting someone to an event, he thought as he watched Marinette out of the corner of his eye, so why was he suddenly nervous?

Marinette stopped walking for a second and tried to cover a panicked look by taking a sip of her coffee.

“Ouch! This coffee is so hot,” she blew on her cup, as if hoping that he would buy that it had been the coffee instead of his question that made her pause.

She took another sip, “And, I would love to, but… I have a, um, prior arrangement tomorrow night.”

“Oh. Right, of course,” Felix nodded numbly, trying to sound cheerful, “This was terribly last minute of me. My apologies.”

He must not have achieved that tone either because Marinette waved her free hand frantically, “Oh, please don’t apologize. We can always go together next time, right?”

_Next time? _He brightened slightly, heartened that she wasn’t completely rejecting him, “I accept your rain check.”

———

_Today is the day_, Adrien thought as he strode over to the makeup section feeling like he was walking on sunshine. He was so excited to show Felix that he _was_ a good friend. Lila’s text yesterday had been the best news that he could have received – this plan was guaranteed to fix everything.

Alya and Nino would stop fighting – because, after tonight, there would be nothing for them to fight about anymore. And he and Felix would become best friends (he couldn’t wait to have someone that he could talk to during private shoots). He knew that Marinette would come through for him.

He waved brightly at Felix, who raised an eyebrow at him as he walked by, and beckoned him closer – he was so, so tempted to let the cat out of the bag and tell him the good news but he held himself back. Lila was right – it would be so much better to surprise him during the reception after the show. _But,_ Adrien thought slyly,_ it can’t hurt to give him a hint._

“Agreste.” Felix’s cool voice sounded near his right. Adrien jumped in his chair, much to the hairdresser’s dismay, exclaiming, “Felix! I wanted to apologize for last time.”

Felix’s eyebrows crept further up his forehead but Adrien understood Felix’s skepticism completely – after all, Adrien had been the one to start their fight at the photoshoot. But he plowed ahead,

“As an apology, I’ve arranged a surprise for you!”

“A surprise? For me?” Felix tilted his head and looked down at Adrien. “But I hate surprises,” he said flatly.

Adrien waved his in a confident shooing motion and beamed, “Oh, trust me, you’ll love this one.”

———

Instead of discreetly sending for a car to bring Marinette to the hotel where Jagged Stone was staying, he and Penny arrived at the Bakery in full force. Marinette watched several patrons do a double-take at Jagged Stone kicking in the doors and announcing that he was here to spirit away his favourite niece to the Fashion show.

Many fumbled for their phones when he crossed the room, shoes crunching on broken glass, and wrapped Marinette in his arms.

“Marinette! My dear sweet! Are you ready?” He cried joyfully.

Distantly, over the sudden racket in the store, Marinette could hear Penny apologizing to her parents over the damage, “…really very sorry… pay for the door immediately…Jagged’s been…”

Marinette focused her attention back on the man currently trying to squeeze all the oxygen out of her lungs, “C-can’t breathe.”

He released her immediately and turned his smile on the small crowd – seeming to realize that he was in a room full of gaping customers. He posed for a couple of pictures, encouraging Marinette to sign several items with him. When Marinette threw him a questioning glance, he winked and whispered, “Trust me, sweet, they’ll go absolutely mad when they realize whose signature they just got later tonight.”

In a louder voice, Jagged addressed the gathered crowd of fans, “Now, if you’ll excuse us – me and my niece have a big night ahead of us.”

He clapped, and as if by magic, security guards appeared and began to usher everyone out of the door – barring anyone from entering. One guard took up a broom and began to sweep up the mess as Jagged turned towards Marinette’s parents,

“Tom, Sabine – what a pleasure it is to see you both again.” He said warmly and strode forward with open arms, “Sorry about the door – I’m sure my Penny’s already got the whole thing sorted, right Penny?”

In response, Penny rolled her eyes and stage-whispered to Marinette faux-conspiratorially, “Honestly, I have no idea what possessed me when I agreed to marry that man.”

“Oi!” Jagged exclaimed indignantly, “It’s because you were smitten by my charm and devilish good looks.”

“You’re more trouble than you’re worth,” Penny rejoined warmly before turning to business, “We should really be heading out now. Marinette? Are you ready?”

Marinette nodded; she had been swallowing her nerves for the past half-hour waiting for Penny and Jagged to arrive.

“Right, we’ll be off then,” Jagged said in reply to Penny and put his hand to his heart, “Tom. Sabine. Penny and I will make sure that Marinette has a wonderful debut to the fashion world.”

He turned from her parents to look Marinette in the eyes, noticing the stiff way she held herself.

“Unless,” he said in a gentle manner, “You want to hold off and debut a different time.”

“No, doing it tonight will be fine,” Marinette tried to demure. Jagged didn’t look entirely convinced,

“Look luv, nothing is less rock and roll than forcing someone to do something they actually don’t want to do. I won’t be mad or disappointed.” He spread his hands out, “It’s completely up to you. There’s other events I can invite you to.”

_Am I ready for this?_ Marinette looked down at the floor considering – did she really want to debut at the age of 16? It was a lot of responsibility…she gave her head a small shake. What was she talking about? She was _Ladybug_, she already knew what responsibility felt like. All she would be doing was rolling a triple life back down to a double one. Decision made, she flung her clutch over her shoulder, sending a mental apology to Tikki, and confidently declared,

“What are we waiting for? It’s time to rock my debut.”

———

Jagged Stone unscrewed a water bottle and quietly observed Penny and Marinette scroll through a tablet and collaborate on designing a new set of doors to replace the ones that Jagged had broken. He let out a small, contented sigh at the sight. If it weren’t for Marinette’s desire to debut, he would have suggested that they blow the night off to physically shop for a set of doors. It sounded fun – he couldn’t remember the last time he went out to do something so mundane.

“Jagged?” Marinette called his attention, “What do you think?”

She flipped the tablet over to show him the design. Even though his knowledge of door design was limited, he could easily picture these new doors in place of the old ones. The new ones looked nice – solid lines, good wood but

“Why isn’t it painted?” Jagged asked. Marinette grinned at him,

“Before I was born, when my parents first bought the bakery one of the first things they did after moving in all of their equipment was paint the storefront together. But since you shattered the glass on the old doors, now we can paint the new ones as a family.”

“Ah,” Jagged took a sip of water, trying to mask the desire on his face. He really wanted to help out, but it was one thing to call yourself someone’s uncle and an entirely different thing to actually be considered family.

“Jagged, wipe that look off your face,” Penny said exasperatedly, “That includes you. See Marinette? I told you subtlety would fly over his head.”

Jagged lit up like a firework and snatched the tablet from Marinette, “Why stop at just painting the doors when we could paint the whole store? We could paint the window sills too! Put in stained glass! Bullocks to any building codes! Luv, you should clear my schedule… and buy me some painter’s clothes while you’re at it – we have a _project _on our hands.”

He crossed the short distance from his seat to theirs and ensnared both women in a fierce hug.

All too soon for his tastes, the limousine stopped at the Agreste Fashion Show.

“Right then,” Jagged slapped his hands on his knees and gave his new family a toothy grin, “Marinette – are you ready to rock, roll, and shake the fashion world at it’s roots?”

———

“Jagged,” Penny said exasperatedly, “That includes you. Marinette – I told you he wouldn’t get subtlety.”

How he hadn’t them discussing the details was beyond her – he must have been lost in his own world again. She was getting worried about that, to be honest. That, and his every increasing jokes about blowing off gigs. She was sure that if it weren’t for Marinette, Jagged would have spent the whole car ride trying to convince her to call him in sick. _Maybe he does need a break_, Penny thought, tapping her thumb against the seat, _if he’s getting this worked up over the idea of painting._

She twisted the ring on her finger – she loved Jagged and she loved her career but, she would have been lying if she said she didn’t feel relief over Jagged’s eagerness to spend time with family. She leaned into his embrace and resisted the urge to touch her stomach – it was too soon to tell him anything anyway.

Penny was shaken from her thoughts when Jagged slapped his hands on his lap and asked Marinette if she was ready. Penny smiled at Marinette’s enthusiastic reply of

“They won’t know what hit ‘em.”

And with that, Penny opened the car doors and let in the blinding, flashing lights of the red carpet.

———

The light’s dazzled Marinette’s eyes – she was sure she would have fallen if it weren’t for the steady grip that Jagged kept on her forearm as they walked towards the entrance. All around them, voiced from the crowd vied for attention.

(“Mr. Stone! Who are you wearing for tonight’s show?”)

(“Mr. Stone! Mr. Stone! Who is that on your arm?”)

(“When can we expect a new album, Mr. Stone?”)

(“A little young there, eh Mr. Stone?”)

As she tried to blink the spots from her eyes, Jagged gave her arm a pat as he leaned in and murmured reassuringly,

“Don’t worry dove, you’ll get used to the cameras in no time.” He frowned at that last reporter’s comment, “And don’t mind the scavenger’s from the peanut gallery – all they do is squawk a load of rubbish.”

Marinette giggled quietly, glad that Jagged was keeping a running commentary to keep her from panicking. Being on the receiving end of the reporters felt different as a civilian – maybe it was because there was no protective anonymity. She wasn’t a hero here – she was just Marinette and as just Marinette, she was more subject to the gossip around her. For strength, Marinette placed her free arm on her purse and tapped the cloth, feeling encouraged by Tikki’s answering thumps. _I can do this_. Marinette stood a little straighter and smiled at the cameras as Jagged posed in front of the television reporter walking up and down the red carpet.

“Mr. Stone,” the reporter began, “It’s a pleasure to find out that you’re going to be the one performing at the event tonight. I have to know, are you wearing exclusives from the new Agreste line? I simply adore what you’ve got on.”

“Oh the pleasure’s all mine,” Jagged said with a thousand-watt smile as the reporter shoved his microphone at Jagged’s face. He spun in a slow circle for the camera-man, showing off his outfit, “And to answer your question – no, not the Agreste line – I’m wearing someone more exclusive.”

“Exclusive you say?” the reporter let out a canned laugh and winked, “Is your mystery guest part of the puzzle?”

Marinette enjoyed watching Jagged banter with the reporter – it was amazing to see a professional in his element. She supposed that’s what being a rock star for nearly half his life did to a person.

“Indeed she is,” Jagged said with a foppish flourish, holding out a hand for Marinette to take and twirled her around. (Marinette thanked her lucky stars that she didn’t trip over her own two feet.)

“I have been given the distinct privilege of being allowed to introduce one of my favourite people in the world to the world.” He called out proudly, acting every bit the showman he was, “May I present the one and only M.D.C!”

Marinette allowed herself to indulge in her own bit of showmanship by performing a little courtesy over her introduction. And, if Marinette thought the reporters were loud before, then they were deafening now. Glowing with excitement, she allowed Penny and Jagged to whisk her inside the building as the reporter’s voice faded away saying “…You heard it here folks…”

———

A muffled cheering outside could be heard from backstage where the models were waiting for the show to begin.

“I wonder what all that noise was about?” Felix wondered out loud.

A model waved dismissively, “I’ll bet it was something to do with Jagged Stone’s arrival. He’s our “musical” guest this evening.”

The model put air-quotes around the word musical. Another model laughed,

“Don’t mind Gaspard, Felix.”

“He hates popular music,” a female model called out from behind a partition.

Everyone laughed as Gaspard grumbled to himself. Meanwhile, Felix went back to wondering what Agreste’s big surprise was – Agreste seemed really convinced that Felix would love it. With precious few minutes remaining, Felix pulled out his phone to text Marinette to see if she knew anything about what Agreste was planning. His thumb hesitated over her icon, unsure if she would want to be bothered while attending her prior arrangement. In the end, he wound up putting his phone back in its place.

“Alright! Places everyone!” A stage manager called out.

The curtains lifted and he, along with the other models, strutted out one by one.

Felix reached the end of the catwalk and struck a pose looking left for the cameras. When he shifted his weight to pose looking to the right, his eyes widened. _Marinette was sitting right next to Jagged Stone!_ Felix was thunderstruck, _was this the big apology surprise that Adrien had planned?_ It had to be, Felix reasoned – that’s the only way Marinette would have been allowed to sit in the V.I.P section. For the first time ever, Felix didn’t hate a surprise – he felt an unexpected fondness for Agreste’s antics. _Maybe they would become friends after all, _he thought with an inner smile.

~

Felix slowly made his way through the crowded room, pausing intermittently to shake hands with reporters, pose for selfie’s with guests, and politely decline interviews with curious reporters who wanted to know the reason for his move from London to Paris. When he saw Marinette’s familiar face peek through from behind two people, he picked up his pace – intent to ask her what it was like to sit next to Jagged Stone – and grabbed two glasses of champagne from a server passing by.

“Marinette!” he called out with barely suppressed glee, “I can’t believe that you’re here.” His breath hitched when she turned to face him – she looked stunning with her hair pinned up like that.

She smiled proudly, “I thought that you would be surprised to see me here.”

Just as she accepted her glass from Felix’s hand, a strong hand clamped down on his shoulder from behind.

“Marinette, sweet,” the owner of the voice addressed her, “I forgot to mention earlier – look out for boys, especially pretty boys, who try to ply young women with alcohol.”

Undaunted, Marinette giggled, “Is one glass from a friend alright?”

Jagged Stone stepped around Felix and lightly took the glass from her grasp. He signaled a waiter and handed her a new flute of champagne.

“From a friend is fine, but always be sure you’ve seen where it comes from first, luv,” he said with a wink in her direction as he took a sip from her original glass before cutting a look at Felix, “No offense – right mate?”

Marinette stepped in, “Jagged, this is Felix – he’s one of my friend’s from school.”

Like a switch, Jagged’s expression flipped from hostility to harmlessly friendly.

“No offense taken, sir,” Felix said as he shook his head not wanting to wind back up on this man’s bad side. He stood close to Marinette and whispered in a strangled voice, “You know Jagged Stone?”

Before Marinette could say anything, Jagged Stone puffed out his chest proudly and stated, “I’m her Uncle.”

Felix’s gaze snapped from Jagged’s face to Marinette’s and he gaped like a fish thinking _He must have hearing like a hawk _followed closely by _Uncle??_

“I – oh, pleasure to meet you,” Felix wiped his hand on his trousers before offering his hand to Marinette’s Uncle, feeling that he would really like a cup of tea and a lie down.

“Oi, your accent’s off for a Frenchman,” Jagged joked and laughed at Felix’s expression, “I’ve an ear for accents. So tell me, what’s an English boy like you doing in the heart of France?”

“Well I –,” Felix was cut off by the arrival of Penny.

“Jagged, there you are!” Penny grabbed Jagged by the arm and began to pull him away saying, “Can’t have music without the musician.”

“Hey!” Jagged pointed a finger at Felix, “You owe me a story; find me after the show!”

Both Felix and Marinette watched as Jagged and Penny disappeared into the crowd. Marinette rolled her eyes before giving Felix a concerned look, “You look a little green, are you ok?”

“I – what just happened?” Felix asked and took a calming sip of his drink, “Jagged Stone, THE Jagged Stone, is your Uncle?”

“Not by blood – my family just adopted him tonight.” Marinette said flippantly as Felix spluttered into his glass; she took a dainty sip of her own champagne, “My dad is ecstatic over gaining a brother.”

He bent double as laughter escaped him as the mental image of her father in Jagged Stone’s clothing sprang to the forefront of his mind. He couldn’t help it – he supposed that the surprise of Agreste actually planning a surprise that he liked combined with learning that Marinette not only knew Jagged Stone personally, but knew him well enough that the man called himself her Uncle contributed to his giggling. Marinette asking him what was so funny, only made him laugh harder.

“Imagine,” he wheezed, “Your dad in Jagged’s spandex.”

Marinette paused for a moment before joining in on Felix’s mirth. When he finally straightened out and had himself under control, he wiped his eye and said, “Marinette, you must remind me to thank Agreste when we see him for tonight – he was right, I do like my surprise.”

Marinette drew her eyebrows down in puzzlement, “What did he surprise you with?”

“What do you mea–,” Felix cut himself off. _Marinette came as a guest of Jagged Stone, not as Agreste’s surprise. _Felix realized. But, if Marinette wasn’t the surprise then what –

It was then that the lights cut off.

“I am the Hunt Mistress!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alright, so up next an akuma battle and our first sight of Ladybug and Chat Noir!


	9. The Hunt Mistress

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alright, I’ve never written a fight scene before - so I hope this is alright. Shoutout to the Anon that rightly guessed that the surprise/Akuma was Felix's ex-girlfriend.
> 
> Warning: Mention of Blood, swearing, talked about stalker/ implied abusive ex, mentions of violence/animal violence. If you need a summary of events, please message me.

“Oh no. No, no, no,” Felix muttered under his breath at the sound of the akuma’s voice, “Oh please no.”

The lights cut on to reveal the Hunt Mistress, or Owena, as Felix knew her, in all her glory. Never, Felix thought, had she looked more like her name implied – a warrior. And though her appearance had been altered to resemble that of a Fox Hunter – all red jacket and polished, black boots with her dark hair scraped severely back into a high bun, there was no mistaking her melodic Welsh accent.

Marinette leaned close to Felix, “You know her?”

Felix almost imperceptibly leaned closer to Marinette, “Know her? She’s the reason I left England.”

Urgently, he said, “We have to move before she sees me.”

What he meant was, “We have to go before she sees _you_ standing with me.” Felix wasn’t sure what Owena was capable of in this form, but considering her track record, he had no desire to attract her rage towards Marinette.

“Oh, Felix! Come on out from your hiding like an’ give us a cwtch!” Owena sing-songed out. She didn’t shout, she didn’t need to – it was as if the second the light’s cut back on, the crowd collectively lost their voice.

“Naughty boy, did a runner like? Thought you’d be gone of me?” Owena raised the horn to her lips, “I’ll have you back mewn cachaid.”

“What did she say?” Marinette whispered out of the corner of her mouth, mindful to keep her voice low.

“Doesn’t matter,” Felix whispered back, grabbing her wrist and edging them slowly backwards.

She blew sharply and directed the horn’s note at a man who had been unfortunate enough to be an arm’s length away from her. The crowd, still frozen, watched the shrill note absorb into his chest. The man’s tortured scream became a long howl as his body both shortened and elongated until it became that of a large foxhound. Once the transformation was complete, Owena crooked her finger at the dog and lightly slapped the side of her boot with a riding crop. The dog cocked its head to the side at the noise but nonetheless trotted over and sat at her feet, awaiting command.

All at once, pandemonium broke out. Felix could only guess that they wished to avoid the same fate as the man.

“Now!” Felix took advantage of the chaos the crowd was creating and dove behind a kicked over table, heedless of his knees sinking into the spilled desserts.

——-

“I thought that I’d have been safe in Paris,” Felix’s complaint came out as a half-moan.

“_What,”_ Marinette’s head snapped from watching the Hunt Mistress’ transformative horn blows to Felix, “_Safe in Paris?_ Paris, the place that’s being threatened by a power-hungry supervillain?”

Howls and screams echoed off of the high vaulted ceiling as if to emphasize Marinette’s incredulity.

“Exactly,” Felix answered matter-of-factly and peeked around the table, as if the reason he had moved made perfect sense, “I never thought that she’d try to follow to such a dangerous place.”

Marinette gave him an incredulous look and said her next words slowly, “You thought that moving to Paris – would, would _protect _you from her?”

“For the last time, _yes,” _said an exasperated Felix, “That is the long and short of it.”

Marinette was growing increasingly worried – a dozen people had been turned into a pack of hound and their window of escaping unnoticed with the crowd was rapidly diminishing. If she had been alone, she would have transformed already, but Felix, still crouched in what remained of the strawberry cake, didn’t seem inclined to move. What she needed, she thought, was a miracle.

“Oh ewww,” Chat Noir wrinkled his nose and theatrically called out, “I was just me-owsy-ing by when I thought I smelled a pack of mangy dogs.”

_Oh thank god_, Marinette thought gratefully, _All he has to do is keep the Hunt Mistress occupied. She and Felix would escape and then she could ‘get separated’ from Felix and transform._

“Ych a fi, yerself you manky feline,” the Hunt Mistress called back.

Chat Noir canted his head to the side in genuine confusion, “I’m…sorry?”

“Listen here, you twmfft. I’m not being funny – I came here to gather my Felix like and I won’ be taken no fer an answer!” She snapped her riding crop in emphasis before blowing out a single shrill note and calling, “Co-ver hike!”

“What the hell is she saying? That doesn’t sound like any English I know,” Marinette said as she watched the dogs took off after a laughing Chat.

“She’s a whole hunting party unto herself,” Felix breathed and let go of Marinette’s hand, not bothering to explain fox hunting terminology to Marinette, “If it’s me she wants, then that means I’m the fox for this hunt.”

He gulped, Adam’s apple bobbing against his pale throat, “You’ll be safer if you get away from me.”

———

It was true. Owena would punish Marinette for being too close to Felix and he couldn’t bear the thought of having to listen to Marinette’s shrieks if Owena chose to transform her into one of her hunting beasts, powerless to help. _And, _Felix thought, remembering how each dog’s teeth gleamed sharply in the light_, that would be the best case scenario if we’re caught. _It was far better if Marinette took advantage of the dog’s distraction and got far away.

But, it would seem – as always, like fate had another plan. At that moment, Chat Noir used his extended staff to vault behind their table to better protect himself from the snapping mouths. It was at that moment that Felix also realized that Chat Noir hadn’t been shrieking in terror as he ran like he had thought – he had been _laughing_, as if the dogs were no more threatening than wind-up facsimiles. _He’s mad_, Felix’s eye widened, _he brought the danger right to us._

“Princess! What an un-fur-tunate coincidence,” Chat said cheerfully as he swung his baton left and right to keep the dog’s at bay. To his credit, Chat Noir said nothing about Felix’s being there. Good.

“If I extend my staff, I think I can sweep the dogs far enough away for you to get to the hallway.”

Felix’s pulse thrummed in his throat, the plan wasn’t good enough – he was sure that the dogs would catch his scent any moment now. The second that happened, Owena would be on them and who knew what would happen to Marinette. He gripped his hair in panic, on the verge of hyperventilating until Marinette laid a gentle hand on his shoulder.

Right.

The world re-focused.

Marinette was in danger. Owena was after him. Not her. All he had to do was distract Owena from Marinette until Ladybug arrived to defeat her.

Almost calmly, he untied his tie, wound it around his knuckles, and took in a deep, steadying breath.

“Marinette, I’m going to run,” Felix addressed her lowly, shushing her as she opened her mouth, “It’s me she wants. Stay safe with Chat Noir until Ladybug arrives. The cursed item is probably in the horn.”

The latter part he addressed to Chat though he doubtlessly already knew that. The horn, an untraditional silver, had an almost paper-like quality to it. If Felix had to guess, it was the invitation that allowed her here in the first place. And before he could think better of it, he vaulted over the table-side, punched a dog across the nose, and pelted off shouting, “Holloaaaaaaa!”

——–

He ran with all his had away from the table. Owena, momentarily taken aback, rallied quickly and echoed his cry adding, “Huic, huic holloa! Bike! Bike! Bike!”

Promptly, at their Mistress’ command, the pack abandoned Chat Noir’s table and tore off after Felix. Marinette rocked back on her heels in shock.

“Purr-incess, as much as I love your company,” Chat Noir’s voice had lost some of its playfulness, “I think it would be a good idea to get out of the building now. I should go help our ‘hero’ over there.”

Maybe it was the stress of seeing Felix hitting a dog smartly across the snout with his wrapped fist before darting off or maybe it was the strange emphasis that Chat Noir had used when he said ‘hero’ but whatever it was caused Marinette to say, “His name is Felix” a little more sharply than she intended before abandoning her hiding spot.

In an alcove in the hallway, Marinette transformed.

Slowly, carefully so as to not alert any of the dog’s keen hearing, Marinette crept back into the room and surveyed the scene. The Hunt Mistress seemed content to hang back and let the dogs do most of the work for her. Occasionally, she would call out what Marinette presumed was encouragement and accompanied it with short horn blasts.

_Dangerous, but manageable; Felix is right – the akuma must be in her horn, _Marinette thought as she eyed the small dull silver horn. She tapped her chin, but how to diminish the dog’s involvement in the battle? _Of course. If she can’t see, then she can’t direct the dogs._

The only problem? The Hunt Mistress was standing directly next to the switches. She needed a way to divert her attention. Marinette waved her hand to catch Chat’s eye. When she did, she motioned for him to stay silent, waiting for his nod of understanding. Then she mimed that he should use his baton to sweep the Hunt Mistress away from the switches.

“Hey! Lady!” Chat called to the Hunt Mistress as his baton impacted her midsection, “Too good to get your jacket dirty?”

Enraged, the Hunt Mistress charged at Chat and used her riding crop to exchange blows with him – leaving the switch unprotected, or so Marinette thought as she took aim and released her yoyo. She hadn’t expected a dog (with patterning that reminded her of Jagged Stone) to leap up and snatch her weapon out of the air. With a sharp tug, the string flew from her grasp. The dog ran off.

“View holloa! War-riot! Huic, huic, huic Jaggey!” The commands were accompanied by a series of short blows on the horn. Half the pack responded by veering from Felix – who had climbed atop a table to gain height advantage – to bolt for Ladybug.

“Please!” Chat Noir pleaded loudly over the barking and braying of the dogs, “I don’t understand what you’re saying! Speak French!”

Marinette’s heart leapt in her throat at the sight of the salivating pack barreling towards her.

“Stop!” Marinette yelled with all the authority she could muster. The dogs didn’t even slow. Leaping up and clinging to the heavy drapery was all she could do to avoid the snapping teeth without her yoyo.

“The dogs’ll only respond to English commands, Ladybug!” Felix called, engaging in a tug-of-war with a snarling dog who had its mouth clamped on the fabric of his left pant leg. The sound of ripping cloth loud as it was knocked aside.

“Tha’s righ’ you dwtty bitch!” The Hunt Mistress laughed loudly, “You nor your chopsing, manky pet can control my hunting beasties!”

She blocked Chat’s overhead strike with her horn and deftly swung her riding crop into Chat’s stomach hard enough to send Chat sprawling. A sharp whistle brought two dogs out of the fray to hold him down, with one positioned at his throat. Then, the Hunt Mistress turned towards Felix. A purple set of butterfly wings flickered over her face.

———-

“Yeah. I’ll do it now, in a minute,” the Hunt Mistress replied tersely to a voice audible only to her, “You’ll have yer buwch goch gota baubles as soon as I get my darling, like.”

_Not if I can help it, _thought Felix. He prayed what he was about to would work and brought two fingers to his mouth and whistled sharply, “Hold hard Jaggey!”

His knees very nearly buckled with relief when the dog slowed to a stop.

“Tally to me! Bike, bike, bike!” Felix urged the dog toward him, slapping his hand against his side to mimic a riding crop. He was aware that Owena’s argument with Hawkmoth was all the distraction he was going to get.

Hopefully it would be enough.

“Oi!” came an outraged holler as Felix just scarcely closed his hand around the yoyo.

“Ladybug! Catch!” Felix heaved her weapon with all his might before Jaggey, now growling, used his front paws to knock Felix off his feet. On the floor, he tussled as well as he could with Jaggey. He felt he would have won if Owena hadn’t called another dog to assist.

Pain flared in his leg as the new dog sunk its teeth into his left shin, breaking the skin. Felix gasped, distracted just long enough for Jagged Dog to clamp his teeth on Felix’s forearm. Another sharp whistle had the dogs working in tandem to awkwardly drag Felix toward Owena.

“My darling Felix!” Owena cooed, “I’m so glad to have you near me again. I can’t decide whether to mount you or make you my point dog.”

At Owena’s cooing, Felix’s dismay over being caught and his exhaustion hit him full force. His eyes began to close almost against his will and he hung limply in the dogs’ grasp.

The next couple of moments happened to quickly for Felix to fully register – one moment, he lay prone and bleeding on the ground, and the next, a furious Ladybug was breaking the hunting horn with the heel of her foot.

“Bye, bye little butterfly.”

He cracked one eye open in time to watch a swarm of ladybugs cascade over his body, repairing it and every damaged item affected by the akuma. Next to him a bubbling flash of light de-transformed a very confused Owena. Hastily, Felix scooted as far away from her as he could before scrambling to his feet. As soon as he was up, Ladybug rushed over and began to check him over as if she didn’t quite believe that her ladybug cure had healed him well enough.

“I’m fine, I’m fine, I promise,” Felix brushed away Ladybug’s hands as security guards filed into the room to check on those that had been affected.

“Please, I –,” Felix hesitated a moment before pointing at the dazed Owena, “I have a restraining order against her, could she please be escorted back to London?”

Solemnly, Ladybug nodded and directed two of the guards to Owena. As she was being walked away, she craned her head back to where Felix was standing, “Felix? Felix! Please, tell them to let me go I –.”

Whatever she had been about to say was drowned out by the incoming crowd. Felix heaved a sigh of relief.

A small beeping sounded from Ladybug’s earings.

“Sorry,” she said sheepishly, “I have to go – bug out.”

He watched her zip away and startled at the sound of Chat Noir sighing dreamily beside him. _When had he gotten there?_

“She’s really something, huh?”

“Yeah,” Felix agreed. He wished that he hadn’t closed his eyes – he would have liked to see how Ladybug had finished the battle so quickly.

“I hear that you knew the victim,” Chat Noir said softly. Was it just Felix, or was there a guilty edge to his voice?

“I did,” Felix replied and couldn’t quite manage to keep the scoff out of his voice at the idea that Owena could ever be a victim, “She’s an ex of mine who…took the breakup rather hard.”

It was an understatement; she didn’t just take the breakup hard – she took it to the extreme. Felix swallowed, he had thought that by moving, he would have been safe from ever seeing her again. Silently, he reminded himself that he needed to see whether his restraining order would be honored in France.

“Oh,” Chat Noir said softer still, “I’m sorry.”

Felix shrugged, it wasn’t like Chat Noir had personally invited her.

~

Marinette sprinted back into the room and practically tackled Felix. She was speaking too rapidly for him to fully understand but he caught the gist of it: she was mixed between being furious at his “beyond idiotic actions – what was he thinking charging at a pack of angry dogs that might have well as been a pack of wolves for all she cared…” and happiness that he was alright.

Felix smiled to himself, after all, there was nothing he could say in his defense that wouldn’t launch Marinette into another tirade. So, he settled for the next best thing – he wrapped his arms around her midsection and buried his face in her neck, proclaiming how relieved he was that she managed to escape before the battle turned ugly.

Marinette tensed and continued to berate him but, eventually, her angry words died away and she relaxed into his embrace. Neither knew how long they stood in each other’s arms.

Close by, someone cleared their throat. Red-faced, both sprang apart to face a blushing Adrien.

“Felix, I –”

“You what? Wanted to see how I _liked my surprise_?” Embarrassment forgotten, Felix rounded on Adrien and a fire ignited in his stomach.

“Couldn’t stand the idea of a new model moving into your turf? Thought that a little sabotage was in order?” Felix was surprised that Adrien’s face wasn’t blistering and blackening as the fire from his stomach spilled out of his mouth with each question.

“But Lila said –,” Adrien tried to interject.

“Lila said? LILA SAID?” Felix’s face began to turn puce and he took a menacing step towards a flinching Adrien, “What, what did Lila – _the liar_, may I remind you, say?”

“She said it was,” Adrien swallowed hard and tremulously continued, “That she and, and Marinette thought that you may have wanted to see your girlfriend. If, if I had known…”

“To what, _think_?” Felix thundered. “I, I can’t – I…”

Felix, frustrated by his inability to speak, took a deep breath. And then another. And another until he had reached a semblance of calm.

“I can’t even look at you right now.” Felix turned on his heel. The crowd that gathered to witness the argument, parted to let him through.

———–

The quiet that followed was deafening.

Adrien turned pleading eyes on Marinette, but what he was trying to convey – he didn’t know. To his dismay, Marinette shook her head, denying whatever it was that Adrien wanted and said so quietly that Adrien had to strain to hear her, “I can’t believe you.”

Then she too turned on her heel and hurried after Felix.

His eyes blurred.

_It wasn’t supposed to go like this,_ was Adrien’s single thought as he wrapped his arms tightly around his middle, feeling quite alone.

———–

Outside, two figures stood under the brightly shining moon.

“Do you,” Marinette licked her dry lips and chafed at her arms, “Do you want to go get some hot chocolate?”

“Yes,” Felix’s breath shuddered quietly as he knuckled his eyes, “I would very much like that.”

————

And under the fall moon, half-hidden behind a lamppost, one lucky photographer captured a picture that he was sure would feature on tomorrow’s front page.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> That was a doozy to write, but fun - I hope you all enjoyed that. So, Owena (or the Hunt Mistress) has a thick Welsh accent, which is why Chat Noir/Adrien and Marinette/Ladybug would have had an extremely difficult time understanding her as she was not only speaking little snatches of Welsh, but was also calling out Fox Hunting terms to her dogs. 
> 
> Her outfit is a traditional Fox Hunting kit, but with the saturation turned way up because Gabriel/Hawkmoth hates subtle designs (unless they are from his own fashion line). 
> 
> As always, I love hearing from you guys. See you all for Part 9.


	10. Fallout (or, The Rock Star’s Pajamas)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy December.

Penny nervously rubbed her stomach, trying to quell the mounting panic gathering at the back of her throat. _I will not scream, _she thought to herself. The memories of being transformed into a dog were hazy, but she could remember the taste of the pant leg she had clamped her teeth on and the fierce joy she felt at capturing the boy. The bitter disappointment when she was knocked aside.

It worried her.

She forcibly removed her hand from her stomach to rest it on her shoulder strap, debating whether or not she should make an emergency appointment with her doctor. Logically, she knew that the Miraculous Cure fixed everything it touched – buildings were righted, objects repaired, and akumas were cleansed but, she had never seen if it fixed injured people. Sure, it transformed the victim back to their original state, but beyond that, she had never seen wounds disappear or heard any reports of sickness disappearing. Penny chewed on her lip. _Surely_, she thought, _there would be reports if that happened_.

If the Miraculous Cure was that powerful there would be massive coverage. What if the damage that was cured was only cosmetic? Without being aware of it, her hand had crept back down to rest once more on her stomach. How would she be able to live with herself if she only _assumed_ things would be alright and then something happened because she never bothered to make sure?

Decision made, Penny pulled out her tablet and logged into her Doctor’s website.

“Penny, luv? You don’t need to schedule me a doctor’s appointment! It was only a little akuma issue!” Jagged laughed and placed a kiss on her shoulder.

Startled, Penny immediately covered the screen from his eyes – this wasn’t how she wanted Jagged to find out.

“Darling,” Penny forced her face into a rictus that only barely passed as a smile, “It’s for me – I’m feeling poorly.”

Jagged gave her a small assessing look – as if he had the power to locate and pluck out whatever it was that was making her ill. All the while, she kept up her strained grin. She hoped her explanation was enough for him to drop it.

“Alright, luv. Your colour does look a bit off.”

Penny’s shoulders slumped in relief, grateful that his attention was finally drawn away from her at the sight of Marinette running into the ballroom. Quickly, she set her appointment. Just as the confirmation email banner flashed, an angry shout echoed through the chamber.

“To what, THINK?”

Without realizing it a small crowd had gathered a few feet away from her near the entrance. The new model – the one that Jagged had been speaking with earlier – was tearing into Adrien Agreste. She drew nearer. It seemed that he blamed the Agreste boy for causing the akuma.

Through the crowd, Penny saw her husband watching the confrontation in the first ring of people. She made a mental note to ask him what he heard. Penny had been so busy watching Jagged that Penny hadn’t noticed the other model walking away from the scene until he brushed by her wearing a dark expression. Quickly, Penny threw her eyes back towards the ring where two people still stood. The distraught top model and Marinette’s silhouette. She could see the quiver of his lips and the shine of tears not yet shed in his eyes but she didn’t care about him – it was Marinette that she was concerned about.

_So much for our promise to her parents, _Penny lamented silently before setting that feeling aside. She rolled her shoulders. Damage control was needed – and if there was one thing that a life spent traveling with Jagged Stone taught her – was how to handle damage control.

She logged back into her tablet.

_———_

Marinette and Felix had made it barely two streets away before a limousine rolled up beside them and a head poked out. The street lighting illuminated the purple streaks in Jagged’s wild hair, making it glow. 

“Need a lift?”

The corners of her lips curved upwards, “Thanks, that’s very rock n’ roll of you.”

The door opened and Marinette, with Felix in tow, climbed in.

“Where’re heading then?” Jagged asked, pulling the door shut behind them.

Marinette settled into her seat, happy that the interior of the car was already comfortably warm – in all the drama, she had forgotten her coat. “We thought it’d be nice to get some hot chocolate.”

“That sounds right lovely,” Jagged’s eyes crinkled as he smiled and ordered the driver to take them back to the bakery.

_He looks tired, _Marinette thought. She glanced at the rest of the occupants of the car. _We all do._

_———_

Sabine tapped on the counter and glanced at the clock, waiting.

“Dear, we knew that there was going to be a chance of an akuma attack at an event like this,” Tom said soothingly as he placed a comforting hand on her shoulder, rubbing her back with the pad of his thumb, “Penny said that she has everything under control – Marinette is fine. Her new friend is fine. And they’ll all be here any minute.”

Sabine rubbed her forehead on her husband’s forearm and sighed, “I know but –”

“I know,” Tom interrupted softly, “But beyond making sure that the hot chocolate is ready, there’s not much else we can do right now.”

Sabine glanced at the clock again – time was moving entirely too slowly for her liking. She wanted her baby in her arms now, not in five minutes, but she resisted the urge to pick up her cell phone and call Penny to check in on the traffic.

~

“So,” Sabine started once she felt the silence had dragged on too long, “Do you like the new door design?”

Tom chuckled, “How could I dislike anything that my Marinette makes for us?”

Sabine smiled slyly, “I think that you’re less excited by the doors and more excited to spend so much time with Jagged.”

Tom squeezed Sabine to his side playfully, “But of course, how else am I going to become a famous musician slash pastry chef slash greatest husband and father ever?”

Snorting, Sabine tried to pull away to start the hot chocolate only to have Tom pull her close again while exclaiming, “Think about it! They come for the music and stay for the sweets! And,” He nuzzled her hair with his chin, “I don’t just mean you.”

Clock forgotten, Sabine giggled and threw her arms around Tom, “You’re confused, no one will think me sweet when I’m batting away your arduous followers.”

“The sweetest security guard, I’ve ever met.”

Sabine rolled her eyes at his over-the-top flirtatious tone, loving his ability to take her mind off of her worries, “C’mon you jokester – that hot chocolate won’t make itself.”

_———_

“Ew guys, gross,” Marinette announced at the sight of her mother perched on her father’s lap.

Her parents’ eyes twinkled in amusement.

“What?” Tom asked innocently, “We were just trying to make sure that there were enough seats for everyone.”

Despite announcing her disgust, Marinette practically flew across the room into her parent’s waiting arms. Felix had no idea where she got the energy. In the car, he thought that she’d nod off and he’d have to carry her into the bakery.

“Well? Get in,” a brisk voice sounded behind him and strong armed in through the entrance, “You’ll let all the warm air out!”

“Sorry for Penny, mate,” Jagged apologized without sounding sorry at all and gave him a pat on the shoulder, “Been a long night and all that.”

Felix nodded at Jagged, feeling that he didn’t have any energy to speak, and sat down on the first chair he saw. He rested his eyes in the heels of his hands. The warmth and pressure felt good on his tired eyes; yelling always took a lot of out him. _It had been deserved_, he thought, _but there would be consequences. _

But, right now, he didn’t want to think about consequences in his dark, little world. The smell of the bakery soothed his nerves. He inhaled deeply and consciously tried to relax the muscles across his shoulders.

“Felix?” It was Penny again, but gentler.

He looked up and saw that the older couple had joined in on the family embrace. He tried not to feel like an outsider at the sight.

“What are you doing all the way across the room? Get over here,” She gestured impatiently with her free arm, “It’s been a long night and we could all use a hug.”

~

Felix wasn’t sure exactly what happened – the natural progression of the night had skewed drastically the moment the akuma had arrived. First, he was asked to join in on a “family” hug and now,

“C’mon Felix you have to choose.”

In her hands, Marinette held up two outfits. One held a ridiculously large, drab t-shirt that was provided courtesy of Marinette’s father. In the other was a garishly loud outfit – all swirls and lines, _supposedly _meant to pay homage to ‘Starry Night’ because Jagged Stone said it made him feel at peace “to be part of the night’s sky” as he went to sleep.

“Mate, if you don’t choose – Penny’ll choose for you,” Jagged chimed in from his place on the sofa wearing a nearly identical outfit.

“Fine,” Felix grumbled, grabbing both outfits out of Marinette’s hands.

“Wait, Felix –”

He snorted and rolled his eyes at the room, “As if I’d give you lot the satisfaction of knowing what ‘team’ I’ve joined.”

The room was evenly split down the middle – half in the rock star’s pajamas and half in large t-shirts. Marinette was the exception, somehow managing to look just as pretty as she did at the reception despite her outfit being a perfect hybrid of the two. _Absolutely bonkers_, he thought with a hidden smile as he made his way out of the room.

“Bring back a bag of popcorn!” Tom called out.

~

Sabine and Jagged let out cheers of triumph while Penny and Tom booed from the other corner of the couch when he returned, popcorn bowl in hand. He plunked down the bowl on the coffee table and sat close to Marinette.

“Did we pick a movie yet?” Felix asked.

“No, we were too busy taking bets,” Marinette replied with a cheeky grin, “Plus it wouldn’t have been fair to vote without you.”

Felix chewed on some popcorn. “You guys took bets on what outfit I would pick? Really?”

“Nah, we were betting on whether or not you would escape out of the bathroom window,” Penny laughed.

Felix laughed along with her, “What was the reward for the winner?”

“Seeing you in whatever pajamas you chose!” Sabine answered with relish.

The whole room fell apart with laughter at the sudden flush that overtook Felix’s face. It felt good to see everyone laugh even if he was at the butt of the joke. His gaze lingered on Marinette. He took it back, she looked even prettier now than she did at the fashion show. Despite everything that happened tonight, he was glad that he wound up where he was and nudged Marinette. She nudged him back before leaning onto him.

“Hey, popcorn’s for sharing.” Mr. Dupain-Cheng’s hand broke through where Marinette was leaning to bring back the popcorn bowl, forcing the two of them to scoot apart. “There. That’s better.”

_———_

“There. That’s better.”

Jagged smiled at the ease in which Tom separated the two teens. He slung his arm over Penny and kicked a leg over the sofa arm – glad that whatever had been causing her to feel poorly had momentarily abated. But, now that he thought about it, the way she acted when she said that the doctor’s visit was for her seemed a little suspicious.

_She must have an ulcer, _he realized. _Poor thing. But for how long?_

In his mind’s eye, he thought back to each time Penny had a flash of nausea. How she rubbed her stomach when she thought no one was looking. How she started avoiding coffee and alcohol and started eating yogurt. He tutted to himself, it was all so obvious.

“Luv?” Jagged whispered over the opening credits, “I’m sorry.”

“What are you sorry for, hun?”

“For being so unobservant, you must think me a terrible husband” he nodded at her stomach.

She stiffened and turned her face towards him, “_What?”_

“Your stomach ulcer – you should have just told me,” Jagged said slightly exasperatedly, “I don’t understand why you thought you had to hide it from me.”

“Oh, my…stomach ulcer,” Penny’s face did an odd thing – looking almost as if she had a brief fight with herself, “I’m not mad at you, you silly man. It just wasn’t the right time.”

“The right time?” Jagged repeated back questioningly, “What an odd thing to say about a stomach ulcer.”

“Just watch the movie.” Penny huffed turning her head back toward the screen.

_———_

_La Mode de Paris: Fashion_

**Breaking Headline: The Ballroom Blitz** Article: Tig Shannon

Photography: Theodore Bardotel

Artist Renditions: D’arcy KONE

As many fashion fans were aware, the highly anticipated Agreste Fall Fashion Show occurred this past Saturday. It is no surprise that such High Fashion would generate High Feelings especially when London Model Felix Culpa is involved. The reception following a bold new fashion line debut (**SEE**: Stratus Tension pg. 16) was interrupted by an akuma called The Hunt Mistress (**SEE: **Historical Hunting pg. 23) who appears to have been targeting none other than Felix, who declined an interview, himself. Luckily, our Miraculous Ladybug and her partner Chat Noir. Several eyewitnesses state that Felix was seen shielding MDC (**SEE: **MDC revealed pg. 20).

_ “_ _The way he held onto her! It was so romantic!_ _”_

_-_ _ Gushes one party-goer after the akuma had been defeated._

But was The Hunt Mistress a result of a simple scorned lover? It would appear not, as Felix Culpa seemed to be under the impression that top model Adrien Agreste was intent on sabotaging his career (**SEE:** Agreste/Culpa comparison pg. 10). Though we may see a simpler explanation than career sabotage – jealousy. Could it be that our resident ray of sunshine is jealous over the relationship that MDC and Felix have kindled in their short time of knowing one another? After all, both MDC and Adrien Agreste have been attending Lycée Francois DuPont together for the last two years, (she even won _two_ Agreste competitions), how could he have not noticed the raw talent and charm this young lady exudes? Of course, Gabriel Agreste has vowed to conduct an internal investigation regarding the appearance of The Hunt Mistress because, as he says,

“[He] Expects the very best of those that work under my label.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you guys enjoyed! As always, I love hearing from everyone so please don’t hesitate to send me a message of any kind. Also, (and at the risk of sounding idk pretentious? entitled?) if anyone ever feels inspired to draw anything I’ve written - I would love to see it.
> 
> A/N: I was asked down in the comments why Penny was able to retain some hazy memories of her being one of the Hunt Mistresses foxhounds, for convenience, I am reporting that answer here:
> 
> This is an AU (alternate universe) so there are certain aspects of Canon information that I am electing to ignore.
> 
> Personally, I think it's mighty weird that people who have been victimized by an akuma get their entire memory of the event wiped too- like the power/control of a butterfly user has to dilute somewhere right?
> 
> So I compromised a bit by making their memories of the event hazy. Not exact. Akuma victims here retain parts of their memory, usually the bits tied to their deep feelings/emotional states. which is why Penny can remember the taste of the pant leg and getting hurt but not knowing how bad she was actually hurt- hence her panic because she's going to be a mom and doesnt want to mess it up, you know?
> 
> That being said, some retain better than others. No big worry? Might not remember much. Which is why Jagged wasn't worried, he's got people that take care of the majority of his problems for him. But If he's half asleep and someone calls him Jaggey? He might respond.
> 
> So basically, the Miraculous Cure leaves the akuma's minions with dream-like memory because, like the butterfly power, the miraculous cure has to dilute somewhere too.


	11. A Good Old Fashioned Nightmare

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy holidays everyone! Here is a mini-chapter to Nothing Bad Ever Happens to Me.   
Fair warning, this will feel a bit different than the other chapters - but it’s always been in my plans to take a horror bent to this story. (I didn't mis-tag the story)   
So I thought that it would be fitting to post a mini-chapter so if you want to tune out from here - you have the option. Enjoy!

Marinette jolted upright, heart beating fast. Even here, surrounded by people she loved, wasn’t enough to stop the nightmares from coming. But now, glancing around the room – she couldn’t remember even a snippet of what had scared her into waking up.

Then she looked over to the window.

She nearly shrieked when she spotted the looming _thing_ that was glowing faintly red. 

_Akuma,_ her mind whispered when she shut her eyes to steel her nerves. She sucked in a short breath of air and opened her eyes, ready to say her transformation phrase; but when she locked eyes back on the _thing,_ it revealed itself to be Tikki– the red glow nothing but the illumination from the streetlight below catching on the semi-translucent red-spotted blanket Tikki had swaddled herself in. 

The air punched out of her lungs in a short, “Ha”, and she deflated in relief before bolting back into an upright position.

“Marinette? Are you ok?” Tikki asked quietly, turning only her head to look at Marinette.

“Tikki!” Marinette said too loudly. Luckily no one stirred. Marinette dropped her voice down to a whisper, “What are you doing? What if someone woke up and saw you?”

She carefully tip-toed past Jagged and Penny’s sleeping form over to the windowsill Tikki was sitting on. By the time she reached it, Tikki had focused back on the street below.

“Are you cold?” Marinette asked with a touch of concern, worried that her actions earlier had pushed Tikki to sickness. Tonight had taken a lot out of them both. Never had she concentrated so hard on making sure a lucky charm was straightforward – when a spotted dog appeared, she wasted no time in blowing it as hard as she could as she dove on top of The Hunt Mistress.

Tikki leaned back until her head was against Marinette’s hip.

“After a night like tonight, I’m surprised you aren’t as dead to the world as everyone else,” Tikki said instead of answering.

“Yeah, you would think so,” She replied softly, chafing her arms. Marinette stared down at her kwami a moment longer before gazing out the window herself. The world outside was very still and very silent. It should have been peaceful to stand next to Tikki, watching the world below but instead, it only felt unnatural. Maybe it was because this has been their most public conversation to date, but even that reasoning felt flat to Marinette. She focused on the weight that was Tikki’s head resting against her hip and realized that it wasn’t just the situation that was off but Tikki as well.

Tikki was too still. Too reckless. Too… flat. All of her usual cheerful inflection had been missing when she asked Marinette how she was feeling. The more Marinette thought about it, the more wrong everything seemed to be. The streets were never this empty, at least one car or animal should have passed by now. And, Marinette turned her head subtly, everyone was laying unnaturally still. Nerves pooled in her stomach at the sight.

“Tikki?” Marinette said in a strangled whisper.

“Yes?” Tikki hadn’t moved a muscle.

Marinette swallowed against a suddenly dry throat and glanced down.

“Are you sure you’re feeling ok?”

Finally, Tikki turned to face her holder and Marinette jerked back in mute horror.

TIkki began to float upwards, still holding tightly onto her blanket.

“Marinette? What’s wrong?” Tikki asked stretching one paw forward.

Marinette stepped out of reach. There floating in front of her couldn’t be Tikki, she thought wildly, it just couldn’t. Because in the center of her kwami’s head, a languid a third eye blinked. It was when the being began to approach Marinette that she realized that it wasn’t a blanket either.

“I _asked_, what’s wrong?”

Marinette’s foot caught on a bump in the carpet. She pitched backward.

Everything went black.

She jerked awake with a gasp.

———————–

Felix startled awake at the sudden movement to his right and blinked hard to clear away the fog of sleep.

“Marinette? What’s wrong?” Felix asked softly.

Marinette was sitting in a half reclined position and her eyes were screwed tightly shut. He reached out to touch her shoulder. Just before his finger made contact, she jerked out of the way.

“Marinette,” Felix retracted his hand and glanced around the room. Everyone besides Marinette was sleeping peacefully. This knowledge didn’t stop him from feeling watched. 

“Marinette,” Felix whispered as loudly as he dared and shuffled closer in an awkward half-crouch, hoping it would be enough to shake her from her trance.

Her body fell limp for a heartbeat before she gasped and shot upright into a sitting position, hitting Felix squarely in the nose with her forehead.

“Felix! Oh my gosh, are you alright?” Marinette held his shoulders tensely while he clutched at his nose, prodding for damage.

“I’m ok, it’s fine,” came Felix’s muffled reply when he was satisfied that nothing had broken. He took his hands off his face, “See? No damage. I’ll still be a model come morning.”

“Good,” Marinette’s reply was infused with relief. She let her arms drop to her side. _She looks so tired_, Felix thought, taking in her slumped outline. Carefully, he considered how to phrase what he wanted to ask before deciding that bluntness would yield the most straightforward answer.

“Were you having a nightmare?”

Marinette stiffened.

“Was it about the akuma?” Felix pressed, “The dogs?”

He hoped it wasn’t the dogs; after all, she had gotten out before the dogs had become a more serious danger. Personally, Felix knew that those dogs were going to haunt his own nightmares for the next few weeks at least.

“I –,” Marinette paused for a moment, “No, it was about… something else. It was…”

Felix nodded encouragingly, “Was what?”

“Too many eyes,” Marinette finally settled on. She waved her hand between them as if dissipating the image of whatever the phrase caused. “So nothing important. Just, you know, the stress of the day lighting up the dark corners of my mind.”

She smiled widely at Felix but instead of putting his questions to rest, it only caused more. Whatever the nightmare had been about, was much more upsetting than she was letting on, Felix decided, otherwise, her smile would have reached her eyes. And _too many eyes?_ What was that supposed to mean?

“Oh,” He said as if realizing her meaning, while, in actuality, his thoughts and feelings were churning away, “Common nightmare – happens when all that fame is turned on you at once.”

“Yeah,” She nodded slightly and furrowed her brows, but said nothing else. She focused her attention on gathering her scattered blankets back around her. Felix watched her a moment before copying her actions and laying down himself.

“Goodnight,” she yawned.

“Goodnight,” Felix said a bit more reservedly.

They turned away from each other.

Felix listened until Marinette’s breathing settled into deep, slow breaths before he allowed his eyes to close.

The sensation of being watched from afar never left him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, you made it to the end of chapter! As always, I love hearing from you - so please don’t hesitate to write comments, send asks, ask questions, etc.


	12. Adrien

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey everyone, I hope you enjoy this update! Have an Adrien-centric chapter.

It was well after midnight when Adrien stepped out of the steaming shower. Though his skin was scrubbed clean and steaming, the warmth did not reach his core. Inside, he felt tight and miserable. A lump had lodged somewhere halfway down his sternum and he couldn’t swallow it down.

It was undeniable that his father’s fashion show had been a nightmare. And worse – it was a nightmare that he had caused. His father had made sure to let Adrien know that he laid the blame solely on his shoulders. Gabriel, after all, hadn’t just handed out an invitation without doing a background check on the recipient.

The only mercy the night had on Adrien so far was that once his father had said his piece he had left, leaving Nathalie to get down to the whys and hows. She wanted to know the ins and outs of everything leading up to this “PR Disaster” – his father’s words, not hers, in order to “best defend the interests of Mr. Agreste’s company” – her words.

And she had been thorough. He had no doubt that whatever the media put out would be tightly controlled. 

He caught a movement out of the corner of his eye and turned his head quickly.

_Oh_, he thought dumbly. 

A corner of his mirror near the door hadn’t fogged over from the steam. All he had caught was a fragment of his own reflection – notable only because the image was so sharp.

He averted his gaze, stepped out onto the plush carpet of his bedroom, and shivered: missing the ambient warmth the bathroom had provided.

“Plagg?” Adrien called out as he stifled a yawn, “Do you think I did ok with Nathalie’s questioning?”

Plagg paused momentarily from flipping through the TV to glance backward at Adrien and shrugged non-committedly, apparently feeling no need to vocalize his opinion, before resuming his activity.

Personally, Adrien thought that he held up pretty well and had tried his best to gloss over and defend his friends’ actions – after all, there wouldn’t have been so much escalation if everyone had tried to make peace from the get-go but it had been an all-around hellish night. Even if Plagg had no real opinion, Adrien would have liked some reassurance.

So he waited in case Plagg was just trying to think through what he wanted to say. When the silent treatment stretched on for more than a minute, Adrien gave up on waiting and unlocked his phone.

Marinette’s shy smile shone through the screen.

He had forgotten that he had pulled up her contact before going to shower. Momentarily, his thumb hovered over ‘call’ before moving to re-lock the screen, he couldn’t call her yet. But he would. Later. When he found the right way to explain everything because, right now, everything he thought sounded weak or accusatory.

_Hey Marinette, I really only thought that Lila was lying because she was lonely and didn’t know how to make friends. _

He could only imagine how well saying something like that would go over with Marinette.

_Marinette, I was only trying to follow the example that you set. You know, trying to see the best in everyone?_

Somehow, he thought, rubbing his chest, trying to dislodge the heavy lump that was resting between his ribs, that sounded even worse. Because even if this whole thing had started because Marinette tried to prevent Lila from making a new friend – she hadn’t been the one to put everyone in direct danger. He had. He had blithely taken it at face value that she and Lila had made up and finally became friends. Had blithely believed Lila when she said that inviting Owena was Marinette’s idea.

Why?

Because it sounded so like the Marinette he idolized. Because of course she would apologize to Lila for being rude. Of course Marinette would suggest inviting Felix’s long term girlfriend to the fashion. Of course she would come up with the best way to make sure everyone would get along.

He hadn’t even paused to consider that Lila would lie about something like that to actively hurt people.

Adrien pulled out his phone again, intent on deleting Lila’s number but Marinette’s illuminated face greeted him again. He found that he couldn’t toggle away. He stared down until his vision blurred, until her gentle smile morphed into that devastating disappointed expression she had given him in the reception hall before she walked away.

The pain in his chest intensified.

He blinked.

Marinette’s smiling face was brought back once again.

Suddenly, Adrien wasn’t ok with Plagg ignoring his question. He dropped his phone and crossed over to the couch.

“Hey, c’mon, you’re supposed to be my guide as a hero.”

Plagg stopped his incessant channel flipping and sat very, very still.

A trickle of unease added to the weight in his chest. Usually, Plagg had an opinion on _everything._ It was completely unlike him to not say anything.

“Plagg, are you alright?” Adrien asked softly, worried that perhaps seeing those vicious dogs had been traumatizing to his friend.

Nothing. Plagg wouldn’t even look at him.

“I’m sorry,” Adrien said plaintively, “I know I messed up. Please, you have to know that I didn’t mean for tonight to end this way.”

The sense that something was wrong increased when Plagg phased through the couch towards his bed. The TV behind Adrien sizzled and popped with white noise before the room went dark.

_He must be furious_, Adrien thought while a whole other part of him was surprised at how dark his room was - just now realizing that the TV had been the only source of light.

“Plagg?” Adrien asked, turning around and rising from the couch. He was unable to stop a keening tone from infusing with his call. He wasn’t sure he could handle Plagg, of all people, being mad at him.

Two tiny, impossibly luminous green eyes floated what seemed like a long distance away and met his own.

Adrien shuffled towards them as he pleaded, “Please, what should I do?”

He stumbled slightly – the carpet fibers were longer here than they had been around the couch. Distractedly, he made a mental note to tell the cleaning staff that the carpet was wearing out. Odd that they hadn’t noticed. He brushed the thought aside and kept shuffling forward.

Apparently, Adrien had overestimated the space between the couch and the bed; he tumbled onto the soft surface much sooner than he had expected to.

“Please.” He whispered, more now to himself than anyone in particular. It was all he could do not to curl into the fetal position and cry. All he wanted was to make everything right again. He wanted so badly for everything to go back to the way it was.

A small rumbling sound filled his right ear. Relief washed through Adrien, making him feel like he was the one floating instead of his kwami. If Plagg was purring, then that meant that he wasn’t angry with Adrien after all. The purring dissolved the heavy pit that had been bothering Adrien.

“…You should sleep,” Plagg finally answered. There was a faint echo to his voice, making it sound farther away than it was but that wasn’t possible. Adrien was sure that Plagg was within touching distance.

_Sleep is a good idea._

“Ok,” his relief at Plagg not being angry at him combined with his exhaustion exaggerated the word to _oookaaaay. _It sounded more like a deep sigh than an agreement.

_Scratch that, sleep is a wonderful idea._

He felt sure that everything would be better after he had a good night’s sleep.

Plagg’s purring resumed and, if anything, got louder. 

Loud enough that it felt like Adrien was being filled with the static from the TV before it had gone silent and dark.

His hand sunk deeply into a fur blanket.

Funny, he hazily thought, I don’t remember this blanket.

He blinked heavily and slowly shook his head. It didn’t matter if he didn’t remember it. It was warm.

He blinked again.

And the last thing Adrien saw before the darkness took him were Plagg’s two brightly shining green eyes, looking bigger than they had a moment before.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alright, so some of you may have noticed that I changed the warnings from 'I choose not to have archive warnings' to 'Major Character Death' and 'Graphic Depictions of Violence' the latter is because I think that Owena's fight description might have been a little harsh and to cover any future depictions of violence. Do not worry, I will still warn you all in advance with any overt triggers a chapter might contain. And I clicked 'Major Character Death' because... you know... future things. So, uh, yeah - hope you enjoyed it.


	13. Mini chapter: Susurrus

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey - hope everyone is staying safe during this bonkers timeline we all live in. Here is a mini-chapter.

Felix opened his eyes to complete and absolute darkness. Reflexively, he groped the spot where Marinette should have been lying.

Empty.

Alone in complete darkness.

Or was he?

He strained his ears. A sound like static could just be heard if he concentrated.

No, he corrected himself. Not static. Whispers.

And they were getting progressively louder. Coming from all directions. Felix resisted equally the urge to shrink down into his blanket and the urge to plug his ears to the noise. Instead, he strained them harder, trying to make out what was being said – but all nuance alluded him. The only thing that he could understand was the tone. The undercurrent of _rage_ and _hunger_.

‘And here I am,’ Felix thought uneasily, unconsciously tightening his sweaty grip on the blanket, ‘alone.’

He forced himself to breathe in deeply through his nose and take stock of his immediate area. He still had his blanket. His pillow. There was still carpet beneath his fingers. Could he assume he was still in Marinette’s house? Or was his space an island in the darkness?

The whispers kept up an even susurrus and it was all too easy to imagine crawling off the edge of his space into a thousand waiting mouths. He shuddered and surprised himself by reaching out further and further still. He had to know.

It felt like he was stretching his hand over carpeted miles. He held his breath.

‘Perhaps,’ he thought, ‘I really am just in Marinette’s hou –’

Felix snatched his hand back with a muffled yelp and popped his middle finger in his mouth to soothe what he, at first, thought was a burn.

For a horrible moment, the whispers stopped completely.

Felix realized that he had been noticed.

Whispers became yowls that became one large, sibilant hiss coming towards him, dissolving the carpet island he had been safe on.

His feet burned when he didn’t move them back fast enough. Soon there was no more where to back up to. It was just him and whatever lay beyond what he couldn’t see.

Instinctively, he raised his arms to shield his face even though he knew that such an action wouldn’t protect him. He lowered his arms, deciding that he’d be damned if he cowered before what could be his final moment.

With a roar of his own, he sprang forward

And

.

.

.


End file.
